Hey all, I just got back from a visit with my folks. While there I discovered that my dad had a bank bag full of Denver mint clad Eisenhower 1976 memorial dollars that my grandfather received as payment for some carpentry that year. They'd been in the zippered bank bag since then, except when he (and later my dad) dumped them out to show em off. After reading other discussions in here I thought I'd help him out and bought 160 airtite capsules and tasked him and my 6 yr old grand niece with protecting them. However, thinking back on my niece's grubby hands, I'm wondering if I did him a disservice (beyond watching her clatter the coins around trying to stack them as they were protected - ). I've also learned that I'm not so good at suggesting gentle handling to a 6 yr old - they get rather huffy. My concern is this: should I have bought some acetone and tried to rinse the coins prior to storing them in the protectors? (post-6yr old, of course) I suspect I've had them seal up the coin with whatever debris she (and we, for that matter) added. I'm curious whether this will lead to a more degraded coin than they would have been if left alone. I suspect mummified cookie crumbs might be interesting to a future archeologist, but probably not to a future numismatist. After checking, they don't seem to be worth a ton money today but he's proud of them and you never know for the future. Should I plan to buy a can of acetone and suggest we wash the things on my next visit?
Realistically you probably didnt hurt them. Only very high grades would be a major concern but it sounds like theyve been handled before and you probably didn't do anything to them that hasnt happened already. Now if you wanted an activity to do together you certainly could acetone them and itd probably be something you two could enjoy together
Honestly, those coins were kept in such high numbers that they will probably never be worth much more than face value in his, yours, or even your niece's life time. Unless there are some extremely nice examples, I wouldn't bother with spending the extra money on airtites or acetone. Perhaps the best idea would be to buy a couple of airtites for the nicest coins to preserve them for your father. The rest wouldn't be worth the money spent IMO.
Oh, well now you tell me It's all good - he likes them and I don't mind spending a bit of money to help protect them. I'm just not liking the idea of my actions causing them to degrade faster than they would have normally. And to be truthful, after the 'conservation' session we had with my grand niece, I'm thinking any nice examples are probably not as nice. At least it was some fun time they spent together.
If you really want to ease your mind go get a new clad coin or cut one out of a mint set. Then touch it all over and let it sit and you'll almost certainly notice absolutely no change to it a month from now or a year from now or years from now
Well... here's a fun little tidbit of info that would have seemed obvious if I had thought about it. When rinsing your coins with acetone, try not to splash any on the airtite...
Just leave well enough alone. They are worth face value unless you have a $1 slot machine to cycle them through.
This is the most common date of Ikes in chBU. Mint set coins are usually tarnished now days and are often fingerprinted. They wholesale at $60 / roll.
I think you probably spent more on the Air-Tites than the coins are worth, but what is done, is done.
Haha, no doubt. But this isn't so much about expecting the money to even out, but to preserve something my dad likes and values. At this point it's mostly about giving him an activity to enjoy with his great-grandchildren. I've even splurged and bought some quarter sized air-tites for them to work on with his (also bagged) quarter collection together. They both seem to be having fun - that's what matters to me. And who knows, maybe she'll be on her way to enjoying the hobby herself.
