My daughter found this coin buried in the sand today while we were boating at our local reservoir. It has a very ugly tarnish on it and I was curious how much this will diminish its value. It’s an 1891-s. She wants to sell it but I think she’ll be disappointed in what she might be able to get for it. Thank you!
Soak it in a bath of hardware store grade acetone for a few hours. Cover the holding vessel so the acetone doesn't totally evaporate. Then, remove the coin and rinse with distilled water. Post you're results.........
The coin is stained, and no amount of acetone or alcohol (on the coin) is going to change that. It was in nice condition. Probably a $25 coin as is.
I'm afraid it might take a bit more aggressive measures, and then you'll end up with a harshly cleaned coin (which still might be better than an ugly coin). But that's one heck of an amazing find, regardless of monetary value or anything else! In nearly 40 years of metal detecting, I have never found a silver dollar. Yay for your daughter! That's totally awesome.
I would recommend you do some Google searches on tutorials for making a simple electrolysis rig. This is just one random article I pulled up. That coin might respond to that, and electrolysis would be better than harsher mechanical/abrasive methods like scrubbing. A similar (easier, but not quite as effective) method that can be done with common household materials is to heat up some hydrogen peroxide solution in a bowl (like the kind you can get in the drugstore). Heat the peroxide in your microwave until it's just about to boil. Drop the coin in. It will fizz like crazy and should remove some of the looser deposits on the coin. Then dump it out and repeat the process with the other side of the coin facing upwards in the bowl. Be careful you don't scald yourself, obviously. Otherwise this is a pretty safe and simple method, which can sometimes produce results. It is good for removing organic deposits, anyway. There are tutorials out there for the peroxide method, too, and YouTube videos.
Thank you for all the replies! I did soak it overnight and it’s definitely not as gross as it was but still very black over 75% of its surface. I’ll try some of the other ideas but I don’t want to do anything too extreme. I’m actually thinking I’m just going to buy the coin from her myself ... it seems a shame to sell such a cool find but she’d rather have the money. Kids!
