Need Help With Cents that Need Cleaning Badly

my uncle let me open up and take all the coins out of his old piggy bank he never opened in forever. They have been in many conditions. So a lot are green, coated with pvc. Anyone know any proper ways to clean them? A lot have good potential to have RPM's, DDO's, and DDR's. So I want a safe way to clean them. I don't want to mess up and improperly clean them.

 

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Safe is a relative word when it comes to cleaning. I only clean a coin if it's in dire straits, like yours appear. Personally, I buy pure acetone (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) and pour it on the coin. I will also use a q-tip and gently rub the areas with gunk. Then, I rinse the coin thoroughly with water and dry it. Do NOT use nail polish remover or anything but PURE acetone. Do not use anything other than q-tips or other non-abrasive material so you do not damage the coin further.

 

Why do you think they have a good chance for errors?

 

1940-1982 mainly.

 

Great question, you are on the right path with your enthusiasm. I started about 61 years ago, I was 8. I have a pretty good collection, I really watch out for the cleaned coins but have been stuck a few times.

 

I would use Seattlite86's method. Acetone and a q-tip (very very lightly) helps a ton.

 

Got a lot of this.

 

I'm not sure PVC is the problem.

 

what is the problem?

 

65 years of gunk. Acetone will still wipe a lot of it out, if so you choose.

 

More like 25-35

 

Agree, just simple corrosion.

 

No . Nothing's wrong with the surface texture, they are just all greasy, and all weird feeling.

 

PVC

 

You can't hurt them with acetone but I have to wonder how PVC could be there unless there were some type of PVC holders in the bank along with the coins.
Edit to add, don't use q-tips on coins.

 

Pvc= sulfur, so sulfur built up inside

 

Is the piggy bank made of plastic? If not it is copper corrosion. If it is PVC plasticizers that caused it, they can be removed by acetone, but if corrosion occurred under the pvc action, or just plain old corrosion from the environment, acetone can't help. Copper sulfide causes a dark brown/black color, blue green is probably copper carbonate mixture. You should still be able to evaluate most for errors, varieties, even like they are.

 

Not even close. PVC = polyvinylchloride, no sulfur in there. The PVC can degrade to give hydrochloric acid which can damage the coins (copper chloride is green) or the plasticizer that makes flexible PVC flexible can gunk up the coins. Copper sulfide is black.

 

Then it's chloride thingy

 

Looks like verdigris to me, Verdicare does a great job of removing that safely.