Can my inherited coins be saved?

BadThad and 19Lyds's comments in another thread got me wondering about a lot of coins I inherited.

A lot of the wheat pennies my grandfather gave me have what looks like a powdery white caked substance on them, or a green substance. He also gave me a Whitman Roosevelt Dime 1946-and up book, and 2/3rd of the silver dimes have a black substance on them. Should I leave everything alone? Are the coins salvageable? Can this stuff spread from one coin to the next?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

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Yes

 

What's the prognosis? Verdigris?

 

Looks like the pennies were stored in a box full of rubber bands. The silver dimes "probably" have no premium over bullion, so it doesn't matter much if you "save" them or not. If you plan to sell all this stuff, I'll comment further.

 

I was planning on keeping everything. The pennies will be kept in tubes because I have better looking ones in a Whitman book. I'm going to buy a new, green Whitman book for the dimes and fill in the holes.

 

Soak the dimes in acetone. As for the cents, I would personally throw them back into circulation unless there are some key dates.

 

Though the wheat cents are in many opinions not worth it, you could buy some verdicare for the wheat cents. For the dimes, a bath of pure acetone might do the job.

 

Since you inherited, I will say it probably holds sentimental value more than anything else. Acetone will help the silver coins but may affect the copper cents colors.

Here is a thread on cointalk about acetone procedures.

http://www.cointalk.com/t193708/

 

Thanks a lot for the advice. I've read up on the acetone procedures and I'll experiment on one or two coins I have multiples of, but I'll wait for the spring when the weather's nicer and I can do it outside.

It's silly, but I'll hold on to the wheat pennies. I have a lot of them and I think my son's grandmother is getting him a bag of them for Christmas, but they still hold sentimental value. Perhaps when we're inundated with pennies I'll keep the best looking ones and get rid of the rest. I should also probably wait until I read up on coin grading and cherrypicking. They probably aren't worth more than 3 cents apiece, but they'll be fun to learn from.

Again, thank you.

 

Would agree with you on cardboard folders, at least for coins of any kind of significant value. I have some higher quality albums (Dansco) that are just fine though as long as you're careful putting the coins in. Only coins I keep in Whitman folders are Lincoln cents that are in there for sentimental reasons (they were given to me by my grandmother when I started collecting. They're certainly not keeping the coins red but they're no worse off than they were when first put in otherwise.)

 

I'm not sure if anyone can answer this or not, but the damage that you see, would you guess that it is from multiple years of corrosion or storing coins improperly, or is it entirely possible that it could've occurred in a relatively short span of time (one to two years)? I have quite a few '64 -'69 Kennedy Halves that have a similar problem.

I guess I'll take my collection to a dealer and anything of value I'll place in hard plastic coin holders, and anything that isn't I'll put in 2x2 flips.

Thanks everyone.

 

I used to get my panties all in a bunch when you said stuff like this Doug.
Then last week I pulled out a nickel Dansco. I noticed my 1940 proof had a terrible spot in the cameo field. Some piece of cardboard or foreign substance decided to take a nap on the coin and wreck havoc on it.
So yeah, now I agree. At least for any coin you value.

-g

 

So 2x2 flips aren't really safe if the cardboard is touching the coin?

I'm beginning to rethink how and what I'm collecting. I'm wondering if it's best to go through the collection, sell the silver with any sort of black on it, and purchase more valuable pieces that are encased in hard plastic.

 

2x2 flips are fine. What happened to mine was due to some small piece of cardboard or something, that was laying right on the coin itself.

 

So what if you take all the slides out and take some canned air and spray the album before putting any coins in? That should get rid of all the cardboard pieces and such. Then it'd be fine.

 

Well, I suppose that could be helpful. But every time you push the slides in, it will jar some more stuff loose from the areas between the holes. You know what I mean?
I am all for albums really. Just not for high grade valuable coins. Lately, I have been looking at the large capital plastic holders for different series.

 

Yeah, I do see what you're saying.

 

I've seen this recommendation elsewhere and is one I've taken to heart. I don't have an endless pile of cash to turn into coins so the ones I buy that are worth more than melt, face, or the cost of a holder go into an Air Tite. I think they look great in them too (I'm partial to the ones with the black ring).