Good afternoon! Picked up this 1864 penny at a yard sale earlier. It's pretty beat up but a pretty exciting find for me. Wish it was in a better shape. In terms of , collectibility, how sought after is this year? Thanks
As a generic date/type, they're fairly plentiful, but as you seem to know, the condition of this particular example will remove it from consideration for a vast majority of collectors. Still, it is a historically significant date and there's unquestionable "value" in that, even if it doesn't translate to money (assuming it is indeed 1864).
There's 3 major varieties for the 1864 LHC's. -- Copper-Nickel -- Bronze/No "L" -- Bronze/With "L" The "With 'L' " is the best but you'll probably have difficulty seeing that with your coin.
Wow, I opened the worm can... Copper coins are somewhat difficult to clean given the reactivity of copper. In the condition the coin is, it's not worth a bunch, but you would like to have a nicer looking coin. Let's start with some acetone or xylene if you have any. Soak the coin for an hour and see if the solvent gets any color, if so, change the solvent and give it another hour and repeat till the solvent is colorless. If you don't have any acetone or xylene, do water in the same way (distilled is best, but tap will work as long as you dry the coin off - pat, don't rub). You do seem to have some corrosion on there (the green spots) and we need to talk about them too, but get started with the water. If you are tempted to scrub it, don't use anything more abraisive than a toothbrush.
People just get really ansey about cleaning coins. You can totally destroy any value for a valuable coin by taking a wire brush to it.
It's just that I have a dirt covered 1949 nickel that I've been itching to clean. A little apprehensive bec of possible irreversible damage I can cause to it.
Cleaning damage is always irreversible so it pays to go slow. Water (or distilled water if you have it), acetone (pure, not nail polish remover), xylene. If you need to "brush" use a toothbrush (don't use it for your teeth later...) and pat dry, never rub, just to be on the safe side. Don't hesitate to ask...you might get some sarcastic answers, but lots of good ones too.
Other than, perhaps, tossing in a little acetone and hoping for the "best", I wouldn't bother trying to clean it. You're not going to improve this one (IHC), and as-is, at least it has it's, let's just say "historical crust".
