Stain Removal: British WW1 Victory Medal

[Chris S.]

Hi there,

I'm looking for some advice as to how to approach cleaning this odd stain off this WW1 victory medal so it's looking nice and polished to put back into the collection. Any suggestions would be warmly welcomed.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

[Top Buzzer]

coca cola

Pour coca cola into a glass. Remove the ribbon and soak the medal in it overnight. In the morning the medal will be mint! I know soldiers who used to do this. Try this method with an old 1 Penny coin and you will see the difference. I would personally leave alone as there is nothing wrong with a bit of patination. Your choice.

Regards

Mike

[Chris S.]

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for the tip..I might go an give it a go!!

Cheers,

Chris

[Jon Fish]

Won't that tarnish it a horrible purple/pinkish colour?

[Darrell]

Pour coca cola into a glass. Remove the ribbon and soak the medal in it overnight. In the morning the medal will be mint! I know soldiers who used to do this. Try this method with an old 1 Penny coin and you will see the difference. I would personally leave alone as there is nothing wrong with a bit of patination. Your choice.

Regards

Mike

Yeah well a penny doesn't have gold finish on it ....
I'd leave well enough alone. I'm afraid you can't do much without doing irreparable damage to the finish.

[Top Buzzer]

hello

I have spoken to former soldiers who cleaned their own medals this way. Coca cola isn't acid, you can drink it safely. Does anyone know for sure what it will do to a WW1 Victory Medal or is it just an opinion? Have you tried it? Anything is worth a try. It will clean it but I personally doubt it will strip off the gold finish.

Mike

[Jon Fish]

I think it will ruin it.
If you leave a human tooth in coke for a week it dissapears

[Darrell]

I have spoken to former soldiers who cleaned their own medals this way. Coca cola isn't acid, you can drink it safely. Does anyone know for sure what it will do to a WW1 Victory Medal or is it just an opinion? Have you tried it? Anything is worth a try. It will clean it but I personally doubt it will strip off the gold finish.

Mike

Not so sure the question is whether what takes the finish off, but what will take the staining off ...

[Paul R.]

I would not clean your medal, or use a soda (coke) to clean any historical artifact. The coke manufacturing ingredients has changed over the past 70 years (conduct your own web search on coke). For some reason some collectors have this deep desire clean/polish everything in sight.
Why change the “been there done that” piece of history on your medal? Ask your self is the stain causing medal de composition below that stain? If it is not why clean it? or do i want to make it look new again?
Why erase history?
Yes, there are exceptions. I don't think that this is one of those. Just a conservators opinion

Of course these items are yours to do with as you seet fit.
<O</O

[redjames2004]

Never polish or clean medals!!!!

Never polish or clean your medal!!!!!!! Leave your medal alone!!! This could affect your medal's value. Please consider it as historical relic from WW1. Thanks! James