My FIL knows I'm interested in coins and recently gave me several old albums full of pre-WW2 pennies (including several key dates). Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, someone thought it would be a good idea to glue all of the coins into the collector albums... Does anyone have any ideas for removing the glued-in pennies without totally destroying whatever value they might still have? (I realize their value is probably minimal at this point) I don't know what kind of glue was used - my next step will probably be to toss one of the pages in a bucket of water to see what happens. Thanks for any ideas!
I would try water at first as some glues are waterbased and pure acetone won't do it. If that doesn't work I usually try 91 % isopropyl as a in-between step and then pure acetone. If either of the first 2 work, then a rinse in acetone to remove any water remnant and air dry them. Some of the old Whitman blue folders had glue on their backing and the idea was the collector would put a spot of moisture on the backing and push the cent into the hole, and they would stay in
Desertgem, I bought my first Whitman folders over 60 years ago. Not once did it ever occur to me that the sticky "backing" was to moisten and hold the coin in. DUH! I thought it was just adhesive left over from attaching the backing to the holed cardboard portion...
Back in the days when a 'lick' of saliva ' wasn't considered bad for a coin Never saw it printed in advertisement, and I forgot where I heard it about that long ago. At least new people aren't reading it and doing it ~ it's BAD folks ~ don't do it.
LoL! I have an inherited, aggravating early Whitman Jefferson nickel book. O opened it the other day to see if any were missing and 3 nickels fell out of their holes. I pressed them back and two others popped out. This went on for an hour before I closed the book. Then yesterday I actually acquired one of the three missing nickels and made the mistake of opening the folder again and this time the whole rear page fell out. Two aggravating hours later I managed to close the book. I know who has one of the remaining two nickels, but before I trade her for it, I am seriously thinking of applying some Elmers glue to the back of all of the nickels.
No need to go overboard. Cut a tiny sliver of light cardboard (like a 3 x 5 card) the HEIGHT of a nickel, and about 1/2 inch long. Bend it slightly and put it in the album, curving along the side of the hole, then push the nickel toward the cardboard, and snap the coin in like you normally do. Should then fit tight as a drum. Learned this = 1954. Forgot = 1957-2012. Remembered = 2013.
