Hi, I'm looking for advice on cleaning this coin. I found it a couple of years ago in a paddock in Victoria Australia, covered in dirt. I took it home to Melbourne and soaked it in a glass of water and scrubbed it with a toothbrush, getting enough dirt off to read VICTORIA and see it wasn't in very good condition. Since the rest of the dirt wasn't coming off easily, I put it in a drawer and forgot it.
I came across it yesterday tidying up the drawer, and out of curiousity scratched away at the dirt with a fingernail enough to uncover the date - 1860. "That's old" I thought, so I did a google search and discovered there are a lot of varieties of 1860 pennies, and this site.
Looking at the coin, the way the dirt came away from the edges suggests its a beaded edge. I'd like to work out what variety the coin is, but first I need to get the dirt off properly. It's very fine dirt (silt?) and seems almost baked on. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks Phil