How much would it cost to restore the Statue of Liberty to its original copper brown?

Many people like the green patina, or verdigris, that copper takes on over time due to oxidation, but didn’t we give her a face lift back in ‘86? I think the plan is to give her a good refurbishing every 100 years for her birthday. The total cost in 1986 was in the ballpark of $250 million, according to the GAO. Today that would be about $550 million. There is no telling what 550 million 2016 dollars will be worth on her next birthday in 2087, assuming the expenses in 1986 stay the same—which of course they won’t. She will be one hundred years older and probably require more structural replacement.

Two things to consider:

You would need large amounts of a fairly mild acid to get rid of the green patina. Right now people use lemon and salt in their kitchens, but somehow I don’t see that ramping up to a large scale project. There are all sorts of industrial-mixture acids, so figure that you would be using hundreds of thousands of gallons each month for quite a period of time.

Then there’s the manpower issue – do you build a scaffold, or do you lower the washers from the top? Do you spray? Do you scrub with brushes? What about the folds in her robe? You would almost have to deal with these manually.

And then there is the disposal of the chemical residue from the cleaning.

My guess is that @Espiritus_Corvus ‘s half billion dollars is probably in the right range, if not more.

@elbanditoroso @Espiritus_Corvus Thanks wow. That’s a whole power ball lotto winnings.

There is also the issue that the patina actually protects the copper from further erosion. The copper you see on her surface is actually relatively thin metal plate and can get thinner quickly if the patina is scrubbed away.

In 1986, they used bicarbonate of soda on her inside surface and it actually seeped through to the outside, leaving ugly streaks. The kabosh was put on that plan as soon as they realized the results. Just the torch and head surface treatments alone cost $59 million.

But nobody wants a Lady Liberty with streaks down her cheeks as if she is in mourning for her America. There was a lot of journalistic comment on the irony of that so soon after the Vietnam War fiasco. The streaks were removed almost immediately.

Besides you don’t want anything that big reflecting blinding sunlight in the crowded New York air corridor.

Don’t operate under the impression that the original sculptor didn’t know Lady Liberty would turn green.

She’s meant to be green.