carl1949

This is my first post on this site. I am not completely new to coins, just rediscovered this passion after MANY years lying dormant. My Grandfather buried a whole bunch of silver coins in the late 30's. They stayed there for about 40 years. I have recently alloted the time to go through them which has been an extremely exciting and rewarding experience! 90 percent are great with only a nominal clean up. But I have some that are AU-BU on one side and BLACK on the other! VERY UGLY!!!! What can I do?????

gopher29

How long were the coins buried for? Did you dig them up?

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mark_h

Umm - pictures? And what are you calling a nominal clean-up? I would not touch them till you posted some pictures and received some advice from experts here (that is not me).

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clembo

What Mark said.

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Bonedigger

Greetings and Welcome to the forum. Just leave them the way they are, aside from blowing the dirt off...

take Care
Ben

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SmokeMonkey

not a even nice gentle distilled water bath?

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Treashunt

then pat dry!
Do not rub dry.

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Bonedigger

Well, don't tell anyone if you do...

__________________
A few things to remember, Certification and Attribution are Absolute and Definitive. Grading, on the other hand IS NOT. STRIKE is everything, be it strong or weak.
Capped Bust Half Dollars Identification Reference
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Treashunt

Welcome.
Then: STOP!
Even a nominal clean up will reduce the value of the coins.
Second: Why are they black? Buried? Salt water recoveries? Battery acid?
Huh?

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Cloudsweeper99

I know about the general admonition against cleaning coins, but after a coin has been burried in the ground for 75 years, it's difficult to see how a little cleaning is going to subtract from the value. After all, these things didn't just arrive in velvet mint packaging. One has to temper rules with reason.

Treashunt

lying dormant does not = under the earth.

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carl1949

Wow! Thanks for all the responses! I have been trying and trying to get back on this site and it apparently has been down...at least for me.

OK. The coins were buried in the late 30's early 40's in a garage my Grandfather once owned. I helped him unearth them back in the 70's so they wern't actually in the ground for 75 years, just 40 or so!! The coins had been all wrapped in paper rolls, and placed in earthen jars. Of course over all that time moisture crept in and made the wrappers cruddy. Now many of the coins have the remnant of the paper wrappers on the edges.

I have used ammonia to remove the green crud with a vinegar bath afterwards. That has worked wonders on most of them, but there are those that I suppose were on the ends of the rolls where they are black on one side and pristine on the other. I know that cleaning coins is a BIG NO NO, but I had no choice with many of the coins. They simply wern't worth looking at...much less handling at all. Covered in c)(*^& and green stuff!

Someone mentioned salt. Since they lived near the coast, I suspect that might be a possibility. They used a lot of oyster shell on driveways etc. Maybe that is what did it. I will try my hand at a couple of pictures...not promising anything since I am so new at this.

bqcoins

some pictures if you can would be nice.

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Oldman

with out pictures at least. I dont have anything to say besides this. You may have already done damage useing ammonia.

carl1949

Here are the coins that I referenced in the original post. They aren't the best picures, but I think you can get the idea.



These two sets of pictures at left show the black and yellowish color. The picture at the right is the opposite side of the coins. How can I make the black go away with hurting them?