Advice please!

If it doesn't fit anywhere else, POST IT HERE. Numismatic related posts only.

Moderator: Daniel

Forum rules
Here's a link to how to post a topic with images in our community https://coinauctionshelp.com/welcome-to ... community/

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You also agree to follow these guidelines. You must agree to these rules to be a member of this forum. NO SPAM! Spam is deleted within minutes, no spam will ever be left in our community.

1. Post a front and back image of your coin with a specific question about what you’re seeing or asking about and one coin per topic.

2. Please remove coin from the holder unless it’s US or an official mint case or unless it is graded by a grading service.

3. Images should be taken by a camera or cell phone camera, we ask that members don’t use images through a microscope screen.

4. Always start your own topic, please don’t ask about your coin or post your coin in someone else’s coin topic.

5. Do not send private messages about your coin unless an Admin ask you too and the same for sending emails through the board.

6. No spam. Do not post any links to your coin or other non-coin websites.

7. Always be respectful even if something makes you upset or you don’t agree with a member. You can always get a second opinion elsewhere. If you have an issue then politely ask an admin in an PM. PM’s are for issues, technical and personal, but not for coin questions (refer to number 5 on this list). Our community is not a soap box for complaining or drama, so please refrain from doing so here.[/size]
Post Reply
Message
Author
LBehr
Coining Around
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:55 pm
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Advice please!

#1 Unread post by LBehr »

I have several coins that I inherited, Morgan, Peace, Eisenhower dollar coins, Walking Liberty, Franklin, Kennedy half dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels and Pennies.
I know that I should never clean them. Some of them have some gunk on them and I also know that they have been handled with cotton gloves that had some kind of lotion in them. What should I do if anything (especially to the coins that have been handled with the gloves) before I put them into 2x2 cardboard coin flips or holders? Should I restore them and if so, how can I do it?
Attachments
black gunk on the top quarter and greenish gray gunk on the bottom quarter?
black gunk on the top quarter and greenish gray gunk on the bottom quarter?
These and several others were handled with cotton gloves with a lotion embedded in them!
These and several others were handled with cotton gloves with a lotion embedded in them!
Last edited by LBehr on Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
SensibleSal66
Coin Master
Posts: 7734
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:06 am
Location: Connecticut
Has thanked: 3502 times
Been thanked: 2304 times

Re: Advice please!

#2 Unread post by SensibleSal66 »

Hello , welcome . Can we see what your talking about with Pics Please . Please post one Pic at a time .
Member of CONECA
" All replies are my opinion based on experience"
Casual Collector 40+ years , 10 years Error coins ( still learning).

LBehr
Coining Around
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:55 pm
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Advice please!

#3 Unread post by LBehr »

Thank you, I just edited my original post!

User avatar
SensibleSal66
Coin Master
Posts: 7734
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:06 am
Location: Connecticut
Has thanked: 3502 times
Been thanked: 2304 times

Re: Advice please!

#4 Unread post by SensibleSal66 »

Hello, the only products that have been recommended to me are two products . One is called Verdi-Care and the other is called MS70 . I have gotten products from Wizard Coin supply . https://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/produc ... -care.html
Member of CONECA
" All replies are my opinion based on experience"
Casual Collector 40+ years , 10 years Error coins ( still learning).

User avatar
Earle42
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 15562
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:18 am
Location: OH
Has thanked: 1330 times
Been thanked: 4874 times

Re: Advice please!

#5 Unread post by Earle42 »

Here you go:
Use the following list. This originated with BadThad on coincommunity.com. He is the inventor of Verdi-Care which is a product used for getting rid of verdigris safely on cents.
He has the chemical background as a professional that I have trusted this list for years with no problems.

Try the below in the following order:
1. Soap and water - do not rub/scrub.
Rinse well. PAT dry with cotton cloth (old T-shirt)
No results?

2. Acetone soak - maybe 10-30 seconds.
No reason to rinse it totally evaporates
No results?

3. Xylene soak - - maybe 10-30 seconds.
Rinse well. PAT dry with cotton cloth (old T-shirt)
No results?

All of the above do not alter the coin's metal in any way. Thus are safe to use as they just remove gunk.

With experience - such as Daniel -
E-Z-Est and MS70 are used to remove spots/dullness on coins with luster. Daniel has vids on this.
Common grading company shortcomings & resulting co$tly mi$take$ to collectors (using Kennedy No FG halves):
https://tinyurl.com/y7rksxu8

How much squash would a sasquatch squash if a sasquatch would squash squash?

User avatar
Earle42
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 15562
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:18 am
Location: OH
Has thanked: 1330 times
Been thanked: 4874 times

Re: Advice please!

#6 Unread post by Earle42 »

Just to add to this - grading companies will restore coins - but likely use the above techniques as well...and charge a fee.
Common grading company shortcomings & resulting co$tly mi$take$ to collectors (using Kennedy No FG halves):
https://tinyurl.com/y7rksxu8

How much squash would a sasquatch squash if a sasquatch would squash squash?

User avatar
Coin Mule
Coin Wizz
Posts: 628
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2020 11:33 am
Has thanked: 129 times
Been thanked: 284 times

Re: Advice please!

#7 Unread post by Coin Mule »

Hey L, I am adding to what Earl said, he posted before I finished, so some repetition here.

I recommend first soaking the coin in a solution of 1 Qt hot distilled water, (R.O. water is fine, you do not need steam distilled, unless you really want to be a fanatic) with 5 drops of Ivory Liquid soap mixed in. (people usually use too much soap and not enough water) When the solution cools to the touch, (you weren't going to touch the coin while it was hot were you?), take the coin out and see how much "Schmutz" is left. Always pat dry do not rub.

If you still have some left on there, rewet the coin, dip a cotton swab in the soapy water and dab. Then throw that swab away, consider it contaminated, and "icky" (icky is an official coin term that I think I picked up on the CONECA, website, but Paul can confirm this), and start again with a new one.

Now if you still have stuff on it here are some options.

For a light "Schmutz" removal -Acetone- generally considered non toxic, but flammable, think nail polish remover. Again soak, 10 15 min, wet the swab, and dab.

For a deeper clean because some paint and ink will not come off with acetone. -Lacquer Thinner- Very toxic, Very flammable, do not use inside the house, have a fire extinguisher handy, do not breathe vapors, use in well ventilated area, follow directions on can.

For the absolute Terminator of organic solvents, for removing epoxy, 2k, and 3k paint, your skin etc. -"Methylene Chloride"- I include a Blurb from OSHA, so beeeeee careful. Follow the product instructions.

"Lethal Exposure to Methylene Chloride during Bathtub Refinishing. OSHA Fatal Fact No. 13, (2016). Describes how one worker died while refinishing a bathtub in a residential bathroom using paint stripping product that contained methylene chloride."

This takes care of the organic side of things, paint, ink, glue, body filler, epoxy, boogers and the like.

Now to the metallurgical side, or nonorganic "Schmutz"

Silver.

Silver is really a pretty nonreactive element, and even though the older coins are 10% copper, these coins, in general, can stay pretty "clean" but here are some details you may not find anywhere else.

Silver reacts with sulfur really, really badly. Back in the day everyday coins, were stored in cotton/canvas bags, now, evidently some banks etc. put these bags where rats had ready access to them. Now how the rats would get into a vault, or wherever, I don't know. But historically, the problem of rats eating through Mint Bags was so great that the bags were eventually impregnated with, yup, you guessed it Sulfur, great to keep the rats away, but horrible for coins.

Also if moisture was involved the bags could start to rot, and being a vegetable fiber, the yeast microbes start to grow, producing, yup again Sulfur byproducts. This is why if you go to eBay and look at Walking Liberty's, and Barbers, you will see lots of them with heavy black corrosion, this is from being exposed to Sulfur.

Now Silver will also react to Hydrochloric Acid (Muriatic Acid). So depending on the concentration, you could render a coin into some floating Silver Chloride crystals in a beaker. However in a low concentration, such as found in some of the commercial coin cleaning solutions, you can strip off just a bit of the surface of a coin, hence, a type of "cleaning" occurs, but you are still stripping off some of the metal. And that is why you really don't want to us it on a circulated coin, unless you want it to look blast white in the end, and if that is what you are after, ok that's cool but if it has value, cleaning it ruins the value.

On Uncirculated coins, if you dip them too much you will remove the mint surface and kill the luster, so to avoid this, see the following link, where 師傅 (Shifu) Daniel shows how to get er done.

The Coin Mule
NGC Member
CONECA Member
mintstate.com User
NGC Registry Set Rank #70
(Kennedy Half Dollars, Silver, 1964-1970, Circulation and Proof Issues)
CONECA Attributed 1878 P 8 TF VAM 23 TOP 100 SLOT 5
CONECA and ANACS MS62 Attributed 1882 CC VAM 3 A
CONECA and ANACS MS64 Attributed 1900 P VAM 4
ANACS 1884-O VAM-37A2 MPD
ANACS 1891-O VAM - 10
[glow=red]Resident Lone Haranguer [/glow]

Vnelms
Coining Around
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2021 8:04 pm

Re: Advice please!

#8 Unread post by Vnelms »

Hello everyone from Texas! New here and to coin collecting but I've been educating myself and watching tons of videos. I inherited a large us coin collection mostly pennies but some really expensive ones that are worth grading but there are soooo many that I don't know which ones would b worth investing the money. I'm trying to get theme sorted and labeled and some sort of log inventory. I've been at it for weeks and still no end in sight that's how many coins their are I'm getting some really overwhelmed and discouraged cas I know there is a lot of money here if I can get them to the point of the right place. I just want to take them to a professional and say here ya go help me but where is that? I live outside of Dallas I've looked a lil at Heritage auctions and registered but that's all. I also have a ton of comics I would like to sale there as well. I'm extremely OCD and taking too long to do this. I think I can stop searching and go with what I have picked out so far from the lists I've gotten on tube.. I'm open for suggestions please

DanB
Coinasieur
Posts: 197
Joined: Fri May 22, 2020 9:21 pm
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 64 times

Re: Advice please!

#9 Unread post by DanB »

Vnelms wrote: Wed Jun 23, 2021 8:29 pm Hello everyone from Texas! New here and to coin collecting but I've been educating myself and watching tons of videos. I inherited a large us coin collection mostly pennies but some really expensive ones that are worth grading but there are soooo many that I don't know which ones would b worth investing the money. I'm trying to get theme sorted and labeled and some sort of log inventory. I've been at it for weeks and still no end in sight that's how many coins their are I'm getting some really overwhelmed and discouraged cas I know there is a lot of money here if I can get them to the point of the right place. I just want to take them to a professional and say here ya go help me but where is that? I live outside of Dallas I've looked a lil at Heritage auctions and registered but that's all. I also have a ton of comics I would like to sale there as well. I'm extremely OCD and taking too long to do this. I think I can stop searching and go with what I have picked out so far from the lists I've gotten on tube.. I'm open for suggestions please
Welcome, please start your own thread on your question/issue.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post