Add this to my dunce list - I bought a roll of uncirculated 1960 Roosevelt dimes, and I didn't read the fine print - the roll was packed/preserved in OIL! Its odorless and colorless - it seems like baby oil to me. Apparently the seller thought this was a good way of preserving them. Now what do I do with them?? Ugh!
Hurry, you must lick them clean, there's no other way or these are ruined for life! Why are you still reading this when you should be licking? Your coins future is at stake here! :devil:
Hope that *JK* applies to both comments. Using xylene instead of acetone, follow the same procedure you find here - http://www.cointalk.com/t193708/ One thing, since you have 50 coins to remove oil from, you're going to have to change the xylene in those 3 bowls rather often. And change the distilled water too. I'm thinking a change every 4 or 5 coins.
The only colorless/odorless oil out there is mineral oil. Therefore licking them clean will not hurt you. Unless your going to have them graded I wouldnt worry too much about "proper cleaning" I'd rinse them with denatured alchohol and let them air dry.
One small quibble: I really don't think you want to follow a xylene rinse with distiller water -- xylene and water are immiscible, and you'll just cause one or the other (or both) to bead up, increasing the risk of spotting. You could follow the xylene dips with an acetone rinse, then distilled water (since acetone mixes with both xylene and water), but I think you'd be further ahead just letting the xylene evaporate from the last rinse. Thad?
Jeff, the rinse in distilled water is only done after the xylene, or acetone as the case may be, has evaporated. And I'll say it for him, Thad and I have always disagreed on using the distilled water rinse. But I explained my reasons for doing it in the thread I linked to. I'll never change on that.
Thad and I agree that they should not be rinsed with water. However, I did not realize that evaporated water or xylene would cause the other to bead. Once they have evaporated, they have no affects left behind. That is why they are used.
Doug's right -- if the xylene is left to evaporate, it'll have no effect on making the water bead up, as long as the xylene hasn't left a layer of something hydrophobic on the surface (and if you've done the rinse right, that shouldn't happen). I think this is the second time Doug's had to remind me of that evaporation step.
