Why shouldn't clean your coins!!

Why you shouldn't clean your coins!!

OK, sharing my educational lesson with the newbies.

Background: I like to search half dollar rolls. I occasionaly find proofs in circulation. I usually just dip them in Acetone to remove the fingerprints, then store them in my collection.

Well, I found this one 85S that not only was dirty, but had some green crap on it that Acetone did nothing for. I then tried the thiourea acid and it removed much of the dirt/corrosion, but did little for the green crud. I then tried an overnight soak in Acetone and it helped, but still didn't get rid of all the green crud.

Here's a link to a post from when I first found the coin.

http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=25635

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Flash forward to today. Like a kid staring at the cookie jar, I couldn't leave well enough alone. That green stuff just kept nagging at me. So I tried the thiourea acid for longer times and using a toothpick to rub the stuff off. Then I got distracted by the family and forgot the coin was sitting in acid. When I got back to it,
almost all the green crud was gone. I could also start to see what looked a little like bronze on the face. So I rinsed the coin off and put it in the acetone to try to remove what little of the green crud was left.

When I pulled the coin out, imagine my surprise when I saw this.

I learned 4 things from this.

1. Don't ever try to clean a valuable coin. I knew I was playing with fire and yet kept trying because the coin would never be worth less than what I paid for it.

2. I once found a kennedy that I thought was a lamination error of some type. Know I know it was just exposed to acid as it looks like this coin did before the final acetone bath.

3. I've found halves that looked like they might have been gold plated, but didn't look just right. I give those to my son because he thinks they are cool. I know now that they were most likely soaked in acid to dissolve the nickel, leaving a nice bronze look to them.

4. I like the way the reverse looks and I might try experimenting with brand new coins to see if I can reproduce that effect.

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Lesson 1 bears repeating, don't ever attempt to clean a valuable coin. Had this coin been valuable, it only took minutes to make it worthless (or at least worth only face/melt value).

 

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Another interesting note to think about.

After the inital cleaning attempt in the first thread, all the fingerprint marks were removed. All that was left was corrosion on the coin.

After the extended cleaning attempts in this thread, all the fingerprints are back in full force. There is no mistaking them.

So, when one cleans a coin, destroying the patina is not the only concern. You also risk revealing previous damage to the coin that was invisible to the naked eye. With coin that is older, one may not know the history of the coin and what telltale marks might be revealed by cleaning, rather than removed/hidden.

 

lesson learned.

 

Has nice toning though!

 

I was thinking about listing it on eBay as a "RARE MONSTER TONED 1985S Proof Kennedy Half Dollar". think I'll get any bids? LOL Maybe I can get SGS to slab it as a PR69 for me.

 

Now you know how many of the items on Ebay get that way.

 

wow, nice example! Just curious... are the fingerprint marks discolorations or actual bumps?

 

Now try a nice dip in Ezest.

 

First: The fingerprints are completely flush with the coin. I can only see them as discoloration.

Second: What's Ezest?

 

Found this via google

"A liquid tarnish remover for gold, silver, and copper coins in a jar. This is the preferred cleaning solution and "dip" for collectors and dealers. Available in 5oz and 1 gallon sizes."

I'll have to include the 5oz in my next supplies order to see what it does. Maybe I'll be able to get that PR70 from SGS afterall.

 

http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=26518

 

Duly Noted!

 

Certainly an interesting looking piece now so I guess that would make you a "professional toner" at this time.

As for SGS I bet the WOULD slab that coin! After all it IS a coin and it WAS original before you abused the poor thing. Just mix up the words in my last sentence and you come up with original coin.

 

Prayed to the Roman God Abudantia and look what I got

OK, in going through rolls of Half Dollars this week, I was blessed with a fresh 1985-S Kennedy Proof.

This one has very little wear on it (the most noticeable is on Kennedy's cheek). Most everything else you see on this coin is dirt.

I plan a 1 second dip in the thiourea acid, a water rinse, a 10 second acetone dip, then another water rinse, then a quick cold air blow dry, then an open air dry on a paper towel. NO RUBBING whatsoever, this includes with the fingers.

For copper clad proofs, I have found this to be the best way to remove dirt effectively without any noticeable damage to the coin.

Many would argue that any sort of chemical dip damages the coin, but after I get done with this coin, I will upload pics so everyone can see the difference. I probably won't get to it until later this week due to the holiday.

Just for reference, I do not advocate cleaning any silver coins, or coins of significant value. As I mentioned above, in addition to removing dirt, there is a distinct possibility of revealing other, more obcene, damage/defects in the coin.

 

why such a low grade?

 

Because there is still a smidgeon of green gunk on the edge. I guess if we called it a flavor enhancer that the mint experimented with in the 80's (you know to keep kids from swallowing coins), then it might qualify for an PR70.

 

OK, Here's the new 1985-S Proof after the brief cleaning. Something that Newbies to the hobby should notice is that only the dirt can be removed, not the wear. With a coin like this, it is sometimes difficult to discern dirt from wear as they both hide the frosting on the proof.

There was less wear on the cheek and brow than I thought. The scan makes the background fields look uglier than they really are, but the damage is there and no amount of cleaning will ever restore the coin to it's original mirror polish.

 

Now for the original coin that started this thread. I was reading up on Ezest and it appears to simply be thiourea acid (this can be picked up at Walmart labeled as silver cleaner). So, I did a couple second dip in the Thiourea Acid and magically the toning dissappeared.

I don't know how to tone coins. I tried duplicating this toning on another half without success. I assume I contaminated something with this particular coin and that it was acetone that I forgot the coin in rather than the thiourea acid. Either way, it's time to move on as toned coins really don't do anything for me.

The coin is still ugly and still has just a little green crap left on the edge, but for now I'm going to put it in a cardboard flip and save it for another day. Afterall, I found it in circulation and only paid 50¢ for it, so it's at least worth what I paid for it.

 

gatzdon:
Wow, that is still one butt ugly coin.
Nice to know that I can avoid that cleaner.