Any final prep before putting coins in flips/capsules?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by dave_in_delaware, Feb 22, 2018.

  1. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I've done Dansco albums in the past but like this better since I can change out coins better and customize what's in the set. Also, for high grade coins, I don't have to worry about scratching coins from the sliding of the hard plastic slide outs.
     
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  3. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    Seems like we went over this a long time ago with @Insider he claimed he could scrub on a proof with a q-tip (cotton swab) and not leave any marks.
     
  4. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    I recall a suggestion from an optometrist who said that using paper tissues or towels would be sure to scratch your new glasses, but that a cotton swab would leave them scratch free. He also warned against cleaners with alcohol which would dissolve the protectant very quickly; can't imagine what he would have said about acetone.
     
  5. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    Of course, "glasses" nowadays are not glass, but plastic.
     
  6. Insider

    Insider Talent on loan from...

    jwitten, posted: "NEVER wipe a coin off... with ANY cloth, or anything at all."

    This thread is too involved to get into. :( Here are some quick thoughts:

    Coins are not as delicate as we believe. Nevertheless, we can mar them if not very careful and no matter what you do or how careful you are you will eventually leave a trace.

    Much of the time it is the loosened debris from the coin itself or on the tool (rag, Q-tip) that does the bad deed.

    The poster I quoted above has good advice. However, get to a show when the copper dealers are setting up and watch them buff their treasures to make them pretty. This has been going on before any of us were born yet the coins still look original.

    Don't do anything to a coin unless its surface is very wet with whatever chemical you are using. That's why soaks and ultrasonic cleaners are so good.
     
    lordmarcovan and wxcoin like this.
  7. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    I always wondered what kind of arcane magic the EAC copper collectors were pulling off with their camel hair brushes and such. I can't imagine a camel hair brush having any effect whatsoever - positive or negative.
     
  8. TheFinn

    TheFinn Well-Known Member

    I'd put a substantial pile of cash on the side that doing so would. Unless he doesn't consider hairlines marks. Would you wash your car with sandpaper?
     
  9. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I had a car once that had so much rust on it that yes, I would:)
     
    Bambam8778, Kentucky and TheFinn like this.
  10. Insider

    Insider Talent on loan from...

    I was being sarcastic (SCRUB) to make a point. However, I suggest you buy a cheap Proof coin before you lose your money. Over the years, I've used Q-tips on more valuable proof coins than I can even remember! It is all in how you do it...R O L L.

    Now for your experiment...THIS IS NOT WHAT WE DO in the conservation lab either at NCS or at ICG - I've done it at home a few times with my personal coins so I have the experience to back up my "scrubbed" statement. You'll be shocked.

    Take a cheap Presidential dollar Proof. Touch the surface with your finger to leave a print. Now take a DRY (OMG :facepalm::jawdrop:), clean Q-Tip between your fingers...I'm already giving away too much info :blackalien:... and huff your breath moisture on to the print and huff your breath moisture on to the Q-tip. Then roll the tip over print right after the surface is newly fogged in the direction of the metal flow. No hairlines! Anyway, chemicals are used for this rather than water vapor. As I wrote, coins are tough!
     
  11. TheFinn

    TheFinn Well-Known Member

    You didn't say ROLL, you said SCRUB. Big, big difference. No need to experiment. Just common sense and the mistakes of others.
     
  12. dwhiz

    dwhiz Collector Supporter

    You'll gasp at this I have a Papermate White Pearl Latex free eraser that I've used to remove milk spots. The coins remained as if they were never touched.
    It's all in the technique.
    Heck I've even rolled Q-Tip too:eek:
    I even remember years ago when dealers would use their handkerchiefs to make a coin "shine":confused:
     
  13. rmpsrpms

    rmpsrpms Lincoln Maniac

  14. Insider

    Insider Talent on loan from...

    :rolleyes: Actually, I do SCRUB some of my coins with Q-tips. If the Proof is clean and the Q-tip is clean I MAY "scrub" it with copious amounts of a chemical on it and the Q-tip.

    I use words like "roll," "gently," and "softly," so folks ;) who post here don't ruin their coins if they have not mastered methods of cleaning.
     
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  15. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    I just looked through a few hundred LHCs I have as I offered to send a new member a few wheat cents that would help move his collection along. In the process, I looked through a number of Whitman folders, one of which had roughly 20 late 60s and early 70s coins Scotch taped to that flimsy info page. All of them look as if they left the mint yesterday. After I peeled the coins from the paper I began removing each of these coins from the tape itself. This left a sticky residue on each of the coins.

    With the guidance of member @Kentucky I doused a number of other coins (not new looking copper cents, though) in a bath of acetone, but before I do that with these LHCs, I would like expert opinions regarding the discoloration that might take place if I do this. Since it is apparent that these coins have avoided tarnishing for more than 40 years, it might be a better choice to put them in cardboard flips WITHOUT removing the tape residue?
     
  16. iPen

    iPen Well-Known Member

    Acetone is really not that difficult to use. I get the Klean brand gallon can ones from my local hardware store (Walmart has them, too). I pour the acetone in a mason jar with a tight seal (a shorter height, wider jar variety is best). I put the coins in carefully and wait...
     
  17. TheFinn

    TheFinn Well-Known Member

    For these coins, any Acetone you get should be fine. For anything very valuable, make sure it is ACS grade for anything valuable. Anything you buy from a box or hardware store isn't that pure, and will have residues in it.
     
  18. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor

    Somewhere Doug had a post on how to set up different bowls ( containers) in a series with acetone and dip and react in the first for a time and then transfer to bowl 2 , etc. bowl 3 so the dissolved material is rinsed off mainly in bowl 1. After a while dispose bowl 1 acetone and add new acetone and make it bowl 3, with old bowl 3 becoming bowl 2, and bowl 2 becoming bowl 1, to conserve acetone. Maybe I remember a little wrongly about it, but that is how I do it for large numbers of coins.


    But try distilled water first, then alcohol second, and then acetone . Tape manufacturers have used different formulas in the past.
    jim
     
  19. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    Thanks all, but no one has commented on whether I should expect a change in color to these LHCs. Valuable or not, I cannot say for certain when I last saw a 1968 LHC that looked like it just left the mint.
     
  20. RonSanderson

    RonSanderson Supporter! Supporter

    I was inspired to try an experiment. I have a number of 70s, 80s, and 90s Lincoln proofs that have fingerprints. I envision the prior owner mashing them into the Dansco with his thumb. Here is one of them. The fingerprint is probably 25 years old.

    01c 1985-S Before PF obverse Crop 01.jpg

    I put it in Xylene (also found in the paint department at Home Depot) and kept the surface wet while rolling a Q-Tip over this area. That didn't really seem to do much good. Then I tried the same thing with distilled water. (There may have been some wiping action since I didn't have the perfect technique to roll the Q-Tip without dragging it too.)

    01c 1985-S After PF obverse Crop 01.jpg

    There is some improvement. I might get better results if I experiment with longer soaks, different solvents, or different actions with the Q-Tip.

    Here's how it looks now. There's an area in front of Lincoln's nose where I may have removed some delicate toning, so be careful about rubbing.
    01c 1985-S After PF obverse 02.gif
     
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  21. Insider

    Insider Talent on loan from...

    When you can remove a 25 year old print for a copper coin, PLEASE let me buy stock in your company!

    Nice photo while moving the coin!
     
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