So what would you do with these large cents?

Are they worth going to NCS.

Maybe I should try doing something with them myself

Put them away as they are.

What would you do?

 

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The first one is an S-271 Comet variety, and I don't know about the second one. Nice coins!

 

I think the second one is an S-224, but I could be wrong The first one has really nice details, but damage on the reverse. The second one has rim nicks, and verdigris, so I wouldn't get them graded.

 

define "Are they worth it"- yes in my opinion sending them to NCS would work. Would they slab out - maybe the 1801, but not the 1807. Now - would you recoup the money you spent on the conservation, probably not. I just hate to think you trying something(not saying it would not work or your skills) would make them look worse. I really only think you need to get the green off the coins. Not much can be done for the corrosion on the 1807.

 

I'd soak them in tomato juice overnight then take a soft toothbrush and lightly scrub the deeper corrosion off then recolor with Dellers. :thumb: I get ones like this all the time and I can't stand leaving the active corrosion on them so I remove it and recolor if necessary.

Ryan got the attributing correct!

Love'em! :eat:

Ribbit

 

Think I'd get some verdi-gone and get rid of that nasty green stuff

 

Toad...
Can you explain to me why you would use tomato juice for cleaning coins?
Here is a table of some common items with pH values.
I am more curious than anything else??

RickieB

 

Do an experiment. Take a cruddy copper penny (pre-84) and soak it in tomato juice overnight then use a soft tooth brush on it and see what it looks like.

Ribbit

Ps: Tabasco Sauce works too!

Pps: I accidently splattered tomato sauce on a copper coin, from some Beefaroni, and the spots where it was, were clean and that was how I figured out how well tomato juice works.

 

I would leave them just the way they are.

 

Well Toad..acidic solutions/concentrates have that effect on most materials.
Why would you want to subject the coin to an acid bath?

Is it because the coin is not gradeable or that the owner just wants a cleaner coin? Thats what I was after...

Thanks Toad..


RickieB

 

It's because if you leave that corrosion on there it will continue eating away at the coin. Sure, it won't look too bad by the time we croak, but what about future generations that will suffer because peeps look down on cleaning a coin? Give those coins a few hundred years and there won't be enough left to tell what it was. lil-lone variety.

I stop any and all corrosion on my coppers and afterwards, I soak them in baking soda, which neutralizes the acidic nature of the tomato juice and the corrosion is gone and Dellers inhibits the corrosion from returning. I want my coins to be around for generations to come, not just for me, so I take the necessary steps to make sure they will have a long life. So as far as I'm concerned, it's not cleaing, it's removing corrosion that MUST be removed to prevent further harm from occurring.

Ribbit

Ps: I bought a Connecticut cent that someone didn't clean after digging it up but rather, they coated it with shellac and stored it away. Prior to cleaning it, it looked almost Unc but what I didn't know is the corrosion got busy under the shellac and ate away a lot of the coin and it was still eating away at it when I got it but now it isn't. There are a lot of museums that are having the same problem with their copper coins, because they didn't clean them either. Instead, they coated them and left the corrosion on them to eat away at the coin under the coating. That's sad!

 

The 1807 is beautiful , I'd listen to Toad that green stuff will just eat the coin away .
rzage

 

There is a post by desertgem about using verdigone PM him and read his post. The green corrosion will continue to eat away at the coin. This is maybe one of only two reasons to ever clean a coin the other being PVC damage. Both will just continue to eat the coin up and it will become more and more worthless. They are both beautiful coins and if you plan on keeping them you need to do something to keep them from getting worst. Ice

 

There are too many people here on CT that are anti cleaning IMPO.

Just remember it is conservation not cleaning.

 

That's exactly how I look at it! :thumb:

Ribbit :goofer:

 

That is simply not true. Remove the sulphur and/or humidity, and the coin will stay as-is forever.

My recommendation -- leave the coins as-is.

If the OP wants to experiment on copper, don't use these coins. Find cheap common coins to play with (for example pre-83 lincoln's) before trying to strip and recolor a coin. Even then, the coin will likely look worse rather than better after a stripping and recoloring.

All IMHO & respectfully submitted...Mike

 

I have a stong opinion about these coins, but just my opinion Idhair. If you have no experience with "fixing" coins you could send to NCS. I personally would not do this, because I work on coins similiar to this (not with PVC corrosion per say, but with grime and verdigris) almost every night after work- it's free therapy. I soak in mineral oil for months at a time, and use a rose thorn to remove multiple times until all gone. Rose thorn must be green (fresh) and sharp as possible. I use about 5-7 each time I do this. Readily throwning away if tip gets damaged as this can scratch the coin with a half broken off tip. I place the coins in an Intercept holder to stabilize and hold a loope with one hand and thorn with the other. Constantly turning the coin to remove grime at the proper angle (pulling toward you and never pushing away). If I were you, assuming you have never done this I would put coin away in plastic cup of mineral oil for a couple months and start practicing on common wheats in EF or worse grades so no real loss. After you have done a couple 50-100 times you should be good enough to "fix" this coin. I would then use Verdigone. Could you Verdigone first and this may be easier. Sorry for the long response, but I look at these coin sand would love to help it. I would definitely not leave it as is. Good luck and do what you feel best about. Great coins.

 

===Delete=== When will the day come when users can delete their own posts? ===Delete===

 

How can it harm a beat up old copper? :goof: A few hairline scratches on a beat up, scratched up and dinged copper isn't going to hurt the value more than leaving active corrosion on it and as to keeping it in a dry moisture free environment, that doesn't work either, since it's the oxygen that's doing the damage so until you remove the oxygen in the corrosion, it will continue so if you want to send your coins into outter space, go for it, since that's the only way to keep a currently corroded coin from continually corroding but as for me, I will remove the corrosion on my beat up old coppers to keep them from corroding any more. Furthermore, killing the corrosion isn't a spot job, so you have to treat the entire coin so I'd rather have a little damage to all of the coin than a lot of damage to a little of the coin and it's only getting worse, not better.

Ribbit