to clean or not to clean?

Although it might make some purists scream, the silver coins such as the half dime can be 'dipped" with EZest carefully to remove the dark corrosion and give an even coloring. Won't work for copper or copper-nickle coins.

However , if you are new to this, just put away for a while and learn a bout dipping silver coins and how carefully to do it without further damaging the coin ( albeit in a different way ). There are several pro and con threads you can fins using the "Search" area in top of page box.

 

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thanks for the tips! i actually read up on dipping a little while back when i came into an 1897 barber dime that i thought looked disgusting. in reality, it just had a heavy patina. long story short, i had no idea what i was doing and i scrubbed it until it shined. afterwards, i learned that i basically ruined it. since then, i've been much nicer to my coins.

i will study up before doing anything with the coins though. it's entirely possible that i won't alter them at all after removing the glue.

 

This is usually against my religion to say, but I agree that cleaning would be the proper way to preserve this family heirloom. Clearly the coins are at a terminal state, so don't expect much luster to remain, but you could at least make it a little more presentable.

 

Before you begin to "clean" these coins, do proper research to determine if you have anything special. If you do, I would send them to NCS and let them properly conserve/clean them.

 

My advice would be to sell the collection and buy what you like with the funds. If this was a commercially prepared board then you almost certainly have polished, circulated coins that there is no fixing. I would not waste good money or time attempting to save coins that are toast.

 

the collection was pieced together by my great uncle in the 70's. i ended up with it only because no one else in the family collects coins. i almost got a (supposedly) full set of indian head cents as well, but another family member ended up with that because she helped put that set together when she was a child.

i won't be selling any of them. what i'm likely to do is just clean them up a bit and rebuild the arrangement on something that won't cause any more damage.

off the top of my head, the set includes:
1845 half dime
1902 morgan dollar
1921 morgan dollar
1922 peace dollar
1923 peace dollar
1971 ike dollar
2x walking liberty halves
2x franklin halves
1964 kennedy half
1968 kennedy half
2x standing liberty quarters
2x washington quarters
1976 bicentennial quarter
1903 barber dime
2x mercury dimes
2x roosevelt dimes
1902 v nickel
2x buffalo nickels
2x jefferson nickels
1952 wheat cent
mystery bar credit token

i can't recall mint marks or dates for some of it right now, because i've been busy since sunday night dealing with a dead refrigerator, out-of-town family visits, and taking the pregnant wife to the doctor. i might get a better detail of the items this evening, assuming no other crises spring up.

 

I never clean my coins and would not tell anybody to clean their coins. It sad that you had to do it.

 

i haven't had to clean any of them yet, with the exception of letting them soak in water to remove the glue. i'm considering an acetone bath on a couple of the more common types just to see if it will make much of a difference in their appearance. if it improves their appearance, then perhaps i will do them all. if it doesn't help much, i may simply leave them alone. as they are now, they are nearly black on the outward-facing sides, which makes them hard to look at.