Conserving not Cleaning

So today I decided I would experiment a little with coin conservation. You may ask why I chose to do such a thing? Well as I am rather young in the numismatic world I have made many mistakes such as purchasing coins with corrosion, covered in grime or artificially toned. Concerving coins can (not always) remove much of the gunk and some corrosion from the face of the coin, also if you have purchased AT coins it can remove the toning. Do not be scared NT will not be removed. Many of you may frown on this but then again these are my coins and coins that I do not have in my collection. So what did I do, no I didn’t use toothpaste or ketchup, no chemicals stating that they can clean your coins. What I did was research here on Coin Talk and applied what I had learned from expert collectors and sellers. I can tell you that I have figured out that Doug will comment on any conversation regarding conservation or cleaning which I was able to gather much expertise from. So I went to my local hardware store and purchased a can of acetone. Why acetone, well it is what all experts recommended. I filled one cup with acetone and another with distilled water. For most of the coins I conserved I left them in the acetone for 30 minutes and for the ones that had been really rough I left in for an hour. After the time was up I removed them and gave them a quick dip in the water. Here is what I have so far. I would love to hear positive or negative feedback from you all. All images where shot under the same settings and lighting. Although it may look that lighting has been altered it has not.

To begin I have a 1925-D Lincoln that I found out was a Lamination Error. Here is the coin prior to conservation. As you can see it is grimy and dull:

Here the the same coin after conservation. You can see some luster returned and less grime covering the surface of the coin:

Next coin is a 1956-D Lincoln Wheat. This coin has a hidden beauty to it but again it has grime all over.

And here is the coin conserved. Here you can see that some of the color has gone away after conservation of the coin. This is because it is not a NT coin.

 

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Here are some great conservation examples:

This one is a 1956-D Lincoln with crud all over. This would turn a buyer away fast:

Here is the same coin after conservation. This is where conservation can be at an advantage. The crud is gone and a bit of life has returned to the face of the coin.

Here we have a 1957 with some corrosion on the rev of the coin:
And here is the same coin after coservation, You can see that there is still corrosion on the coin but it is light compared to before conservation:

 

IMO you ruined some beautiful, original coins. And the second wheat cent was NT, btw. For the first coin you didn't revive the luster, you whitened the coin and it's ugly.

 

Again this was just a process I chose to do on my own with coins that are not part of my collection so I am not telling anyone to try this. If you chose to try I would suggest trying it on pocket change first that way you do not destroy your coins. Again I look forward to any feedback.

 

I appreciate the feedback. Thank you.

 

And in MY "humble" opinion, you didn't "ruin" squat. You don't need to leave acetone- or xylene-soluble gunk on a coin for it to qualify as "original".

It's possible in some circumstances for acetone (or contaminants) to react with copper, but I don't think that's what happened here.

That second 1956-D is absolutely, unquestionably improved. The others leave more room for opinion, but I think calling any of them "ruined" is ridiculous.

 

I agree.

 

Interesting. Your coins, have fun. Get some toluene or xylene and try it. Many people object to the odor of toluene, just don't huff too much of it, or use the xylene, similar but less volatile. It is all a matter of polarity. I would start with the toluene/xylene (non-polar) and then progress through acetone (a little polar) to the water (very polar). Try some toluene/xylene on the ones you have done so far.

 

2 points. One , I suggest that you do not use water after the acetone. If you really want to use both, reverse the sequence, acetone always last and allow to evaporate before putting into a holder.

Secondly, I do find it hard to imagine that even with any fluid, the problems originally on the coins would come off such without some hard physical contact during the conservation treatment. What did you do other than the fluid exposure to remove it?

 

My apologies I forgot to add it too my write up. Most people talk about using toothpicks and that scares me so I lighly use a q tip. Thank you for bringing that up.

 

Thank you. That means a lot coming from a respected coin collector such as yourself.

 

I appreciate your support of a positive statement made. Thank you.

 

Thank you for your positive feedback.

 

Thank you, I prefer to stick with acetone.

 

Actually there was a reason I suggested the toluene/xylene. There is lots of "stuff" that the toluene/xylene will clean off that the acetone won't touch. Also, whatever order you do it in, I would finish with water, distilled or deionized.

 

There's also unanimous agreement that xylene is 100% safe for copper coins, in contrast to acetone.

 

Is the process with xylene the same as acetone or different??? Thank you.

 

Mr. potter would say: use olive oil

 

Three out of four of the coins I liked better in the original photos. You still have to give it some time, as any chemical reaction changes to the appearance of the cleaned coins can be delayed. The second 1956 D I just wouldn't go out of my way to get. I've noticed that some people just enjoy cleaning coins. Maybe that is more up their alley as far as a hobby. I just couldn't be bothered with such experiments. I guess it just comes down to personality. So many coins out there and so many sellers, I just try to make an effort to transact only with the people that ship me uncleaned coins.

I did not see grime on the first 1956 D.