I like Cleaned Coins and you should to thread

I definitely think it is worth an appropriate dip and proper (gentle) cleaning with a cotton swab or careful poking with a toothpick when flipping a coin.

 

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Just discovered this thread. Anyway. I think that coin with those details is amazing - considering it has seen so much history and survived. I wonder how the surfaces of it look as you rotate it. Thanks for sharing.

 

Ok I see the forum doesnt refer this to the link I was replying to which was this coin posted long ago.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40

I occasionally spray the undersurface of my car with WD40. Never thought of using it on my coins before.

 

I completely agree - this argument applies to so many things in life. One example that I can think of is old homes with what was once beautifuly stained woodwork. Woodwork that was carefully built by matching wood for consistency. Yet nearly always when I walk into an older home the woodwork has been nearly destroyed and decimated by a series of amateur DIY homeowners with multiple coats of paint. I am sure they thought they were just 'sprucing it up,' or that they were 'increasing the value' or their realtor told them it would be more sellable this way. Honestly, what they have done to their homes is more akin to just 'screwing it up.' I'm sure they liked that 'nice' clean white feeling for a little while. However, then the paint jobs get dirty again, or it begins to chip off with the old aging varnish/lacquer, so then it gets another coat. (Geez - Sounds like a coin being 'dipping' or having 'baking soda/vinegar/aluminum' applied to it when it starts to tarnish). Over time the woodwork is just an unsightly, nasty mess with paint drips all over. Years later as these homes become historic they are 'ugly' houses, and go the fate of becoming rentals, frat-houses, and eventual tear-downs... It is just a shame. Just like that poor old abused 'historic' house this is in a sense what happens to that coin when you start messing with it and altering it. Obviously restoration and maintenance play a role in making/keeping that old home a beautiful place to live, just like they do in preserving a coin. But, I like to ask myself if placing that coin in some substance or performing some operation on it is simply akin to 'painting the woodwork.' Does that treatment add anything to it 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 years down the road. Or does it just hasten the day it becomes an eventual 'tear-down' for its melt value.

 

Thank you so much for this case report - awesome find!

 

See any difference? One is before and one is after. Maybe I should have soaked it in acetone longer? I soaked it in distilled water overnight and maybe an hour or so in acetone twice. I am seeing an improvement so I am tossing it back in for a little longer. I notice it is kind of hard to affect nickels by soaking them. Nickel must not be that reactive like copper. Seems hard to damage them. I soak nickels with green stuff on them since I notice when buying them at a coin shop in bulk many in the bin have green stuff on them. Maybe those stamp people are putting them in stamp holders?

 

This illustrates very well what I have noticed about cleaning coins. The coin does look "cleaner" after your acetone and water treatment, but is it more appealing? The eye-appeal of a coin is what gives it value, either in a dollars and cents mode or in an aestetic mode. As I say, your cleaning made it cleaner and took off lots of grime, but at the same time it lowered the contrast of the features of the coin, kind of like lightening a video picture by reducing the contrast rather than raising the brightness. What is the answer? I'm still searching.

 

Yes, I notice that too. It is not like I can undo it though. The crud did give the coin contrast I soaked the coin as a reaction I got from another forum but it does not seem like that was wise to do since you just don't know who you are dealing with and some newer people who like these tend to like them all blast white. I guess I didn't want crud to be confused as corrosion. There does appear to be some corrosion on the coin though. On anther note though as I noticed, grime causes contrast but is it true contrast if it is just dirt.

 

Good comment. Dirt accentuates contrast, on an MS type coin, contrast comes about because of the sharpness of the features. For circulated coins, the crud is one thing that gives them contrast. If we find the crud appealing, we post it in "Post A Toned Coin", if not appealing, we either leave it alone or try to non-destructively clean it. Now to increase the contrast, we can let it age and tone.

Additional thoughts, ever notice how Barber coins are nice looking (kind of like a cameo) even if they are quite worn, but they don't clean up nice.

 

I lest it soak in acetone again and just rinsed it with distilled water. Here is the final result. I think that my purpose for this coin is to remove some crud so it would not be confused with corrosion which I believed some seemed to do when I posted it into a grading section of another forum. I posted it because I wanted to confirm it was a VF coin when it was marked and listed as a fine coin along side other more common F coins. Some were right though on other forums though. I asked at the PCGS forum if this was crud or corrosion on this coin and they said both and to not buy it if I hadn't already. I didn't tell them I paid $2.

 

Actually I think Barber coins are nice VG above but the flat faced ones are kind of ugly. These V Nickels aren't bad in lower grades though. I think it is ok to soak these because it seems nickel isn't very reactive and doesn't change if you soaked in acetone and isn't reactive like old coppers although I have noticed that crud on coppers can hide underlying issues like verdigris that needs to be addressed. Nickel also seems hard so if you drop it, it won't ding up like softer metals like silver.

 

See my new post on "Don't clean your coins - HA ! "

 

I don't see any real damage from soaking this coin, just distinguishing what is what. It created no issues that weren't already there and as far as soaking it in water, it is water. Do you think this coin hadn't already been through a lot already during circulation? How many times has it been in someone's pocket while swimming or went through the laundry?

 

Did you think the coin was beautiful with more crud on it?

 

I don't, it looked like there was more corrosion on it than it really had. It did create the illusion of bolder details in some places but as I stated, that was merely illusion. I think the dark crud made the hair and LIBERTY look deeper than it really was. Honestly though, it wasn't before or now the most attractive coin. Would you say it is still VF details without the crud?

 

Exactly! I think you did the best with what you have and have made it better. I think this kind of restorative and conservation work is just fine on at least VF and some XF coins and below.

 

I am actually thinking of soaking it longer

I did notice when I soaked a very heavily corroded steel cent in distilled water for a long time, like a month the corrosion wore off the coin and was in the water and in the holder. I probably could remove some of this corrosion if I did the same to this coin? I am considering it, what do you think? I just soaked it overnight and put it in acetone a couple times for an hour or so. I think I will just do another night of soaking. I don't think it will hurt it since it has already been soaked. I see nothing on this coin that already hadn't been there before maybe even accentuated by the crud like the details were. Something to consider, you accentuate the details but also accentuate pitting or corrosion as well.

I am looking at brownish areas of this coin and the areas that I am seeing as corrosion are actually raised areas. Does corrosion lie on top of coins or is it part of the surface. Look at the brown stuff around the stars. on the left side of the coin
between 9 and 10 o'clock.

It is funny though that people referring to eye appeal and attractiveness with this coin because as was discussed at another forum, this coin wasn't the most attractive coin.

 

Corrosion is the reaction the metal has with oxygen and other elements to essentially eat it away. It is like a cancer. I believe if you can get as much of it off as you can and then preserve the rest of the coin with Verdi-Care should should be in good shape.

I would continue the daily soakings in distilled water followed by the acetone until it gets to a point you think appropriate, the a thin coating of Verdi-Care per the instructions, then into an air-tite type holder.

 

I thought verdi-care is for copper verdigris. I don't think I am going to keep this coin so the next owner can do that. I am just trying to make it more presentable, responding to others' reaction to it.