A friend asked me to look at an accumulation of coins left to her by her late husband. There were a few pretty nice coins, but I hurt inside as I looked at them, because most had been placed in vinyl holders, probably in the 1960s or 1970s. One of them was this 1939-D quarter, which looks like it would have been a beauty when first placed there. I have soaked it for weeks in acetone and rinsed it in xylene, but there is still residue, and maybe some surface damage. It retains more luster than the image shows, but there is green residue, especially on the forehead-hair area. What do you think? Is there still any value to it? Is there anything else I can do for it?
Nice coin find. Unfortunately I don’t know any methods to help with restoring the coin to a better state.
I'd soak it in 100% acetone. If no improvement try a distilled water soak, then xylene. Can't hurt to try.
Maybe a quick dip in diluted Ez Zest followed by distilled water rinse. Chances are the PVC goo has etched the surfaces.
I don't know anything about Ez Zest. How likely is it to harm a surface? I can't tell how etched it is already, but that is my fear. Do you think it would have any value as is? I need to tell my widow friend something.
I would try MS70 first. I have had some success using MS70. If you are outside and have a hot plate and beaker, I've heard boiling ammonia can be useful too but this is dangerous if you do it in an enclosed area. Do not breathe the fumes. I'm not sure I would recommend a dip using EZest or similar product as the coin might look worse.
You could also try rubbing alcohol, but it probably won't work if the other solvents didn't. The polarity is something like this isopropyl alcohol > acetone > xylene.
Well, I'll suggest you not dip it in EZ zest if you're unfamiliar with it, especially if it's not your coin. If a 3 week soak in acetone still leaves it green it's likely surface damage, unfortunately. I'm not sure what the value might be at this point,
I hate that the damage was done. The lady's husband, whom I never met, put lots of lesser coins in 2x2s. Those are all just like they were when he put them in. I'm sure he must have felt he was better protecting his better coins by putting them in the more expensive vinyls. He had a number of Morgans, including an 1879-CC. I was able to remove 90 to 95% of the residue from it, although it only grades fine or maybe a weak VF. That quarter must have been a beauty when it went in.
Would this react with the silver surface? I have used alcohol on some dirty stuff of no real value, and as I recall it seemed to affect some of them.