to clean or not to clean?

i received a small collection from a deceased family member. the coins were all glued to felt paper, put in a frame, and hung on a wall around 30-35 years ago. i want to keep the collection intact, but the current display method is killing me.




the coins are all glued firmly to the felt, to the point that i can't pull them off. i'm not exactly sure how to go about removing the coins from whatever adhesive they're attached with, but i would prefer to put the collection into something a bit less damaging.

so on to my question. would it be more damaging to leave the coins where they are, versus removing them from their current home with whatever damaging solvents? i'm leaning towards removing them, but i'm open to suggestions. what do you folks think?

 

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ouch!

 

I'm sorry but even if you remove them they all are definetly damaged in so many ways that they're worth nothing more than scrap + they may not be real

 

Still , I'd cut off as much of the cardboard as you can , followed by a soak in pure acetone to remove the glue . Too bad but they are still family heirlooms .

 

ok, let me ask this. for the most part, each coin is one of a pair from each series; two walking liberty's, two morgan dollars, etc etc. what can i expect the flip sides to look like? i can't tell what kind of glue was used, but it's pretty good stuff to be working this well after so long.

also, i'm not terribly upset about the prospect of them being damaged beyond repair because they're not going anywhere.

 

exactly. i'm thinking i will probably just de-glue them and put them into another collection media that won't be as harmful.

 

I would recommend using water, and then 91% isopropyl alcohol ( walmart) before the acetone, as during that time, the glue could have been water or alcohol soluble.

 

What is the felt glued to? If paper or cardboard, I would try to very, very carefully cut the board into smaller sections. Them I would place in boiling water to dissolve as much of the backing as possible. Then I would soak the smaller particles in acetone to hopefully dissolve the remaining glue. If the backing is wood, you might try peeling the felt away from the backing. Hopefully superglue was not involved.

 

the felt is on cardboard. it's the back cover of the picture frame / display case. i will try water first and go from there. thanks!

 

I'd try what Desert Gem said , he does know his chemistry .

 

i searched for other threads concerning this type of situation. what amount of time should i expect to soak the coins for the water, alcohol, or acetone to do their jobs? i understand that the answer is dependent on the type of glue, but if anyone has a ballpark for me i would appreciate it.

 

Leave it as is for the generations to come

 

The coins are all in the terminal state of toning, so it wouldn't hurt to give them a dip whenever you are able to get the glue off. If you get lucky, the glue may have actually protected the other side of the coin. If this is the case, just flip the coins over and create a similar display with the other side showing.

It's ashame that this was once considered an accepted storage method. Even the great collection of King Farouk had several series of coins "preserved" in this fashion but had the addition of a heavy coat of varnish applied. Strangely enough, it did preserve the coins fairly well.

 

that's my hope as well

 

Most superglues dissolve in acetone. I use superglue to hold gemstones on my dop while I facet them. Afterwards, I drop the dop and gem into acetone and after a couple of hours they separate with no residue on the gem.

 

What is the medallion below the Washington quarter?

 

i haven't researched it yet, but the visible side says "good for 5 cents at bar - e.thobe". i will add a picture in a moment.

 

well, i peeled off the cent and *most* of the adhesive appeared to already dissolve in plain tap water (don't have any distilled etc on hand). unfortunately, the glue didn't cover the whole reverse of the coin, and there's a big discolored splotch underneath the glue. i would assume the rest of the coins will come up in the same way.

gonna go big and try one of the morgan's next...

 

and the token:

 

perhaps the biggest hurt of the bunch, this 1845 half dime. you can see what lovely work the glue does on these guys.