Okay, I have over 400 wheat pennies that I've had over the years, now that I have started collecting coins I decided to go through my old wheat cents... I found a 1957-D in beautiful condition.. It looks almost new except it has these green blotches on it.. (I could take the blotches off with a toothpick they arent like stains or anything) Anyways It has a red tone to it.. more red then a new penny now-adays... I'm attaching a picture of 3 1957-D wheat cents The far left is the red toned one... the middle one has about the same tone as a normal penny now-adays and the far right one looks like all my other old 1957-D wheat pennies... brown and dull. Any comments? (This penny is really red the photo doesn't show it as well. but it is still close)
From what I have seen on this forum try distilled water and acetone which will help take off those spots. Pictures are a little blury, maybe try to use a macro setting or through a l0x loop.
hi, and Welcome to the forum! You are correct in that the center one has a color closest to new cents. As toning occurs from environmental effects, it does have darker colored reactants deposited and a reddish color like your left one develops. Left alone and unprotected, it continues to a mix of red and brown and then brown like the one on the right. If it didn't have the corrosion spots, they would be nice examples. I don't think it would be worth your time and effort to try and remove the corrosion, from what I can see, it is a common example. The corrosion looks rather extensive. Again, welcome! Jim
Okay, Well I used some cleaner to take off all the tarnish on the middle one.. It looks really shiny now.. Tonight I'm letting it soak in water and baking soda to see if that will get rid of the green blotches.. I'll post new photos of the middle coin tmrw.. (before and after photos) Wish me luck! (by the way... I'm to scared to try using chemicals on my far right one... I'm leaving it just the way it is because I love the brilliant color that it has taken on haha.)
HMMM really weird discovery... okay so I get back and the coin is gold!!!! Obviously not real gold but it has that color everywhere.. I soaked it in a mixture of tap water, baking soda, and calamine lotion for a few hours and it had a gold colored coat.. I put the coin back into my chemical cleaning solution and it went back to a copper color but now it is a real light copper and doesnt look like a real penny anymore... Also I was unsuccessfull in removing the green blotches.. I'm going to try again with boiling water and some other house hold items... If i get it to work, I'll let you know and then clean the far left one.
Oh. It's okay... The one on the left is the coin I care about.. Right now I'm messing around with the middle one to see what works and what doesnt... vinegar & dishwashing soap in boiling sodium water turned the green blotches into brown blotches.. now my coin is taking a bath in white vinegar, I'm going to see if that gets rid of the blotches for good. standby
Pretty successfull. I actually got a large amount of the blotches gone.. the coin looks good the only mistake was using a chemical cleaner for the tarnish it got rid of the luster and the copper tone. the blotches are gone leaving little brown stains.. steps: 1. soap and water scrub 2. boil (water, salt, vinegar, dish-soap) 3. add coin 4. leave coin in... air pockets form under coin causing it to vibrate (also makes a cool loud clinging noise against pot)... The vibration seemed to have shaken off some of the blotch spots. 4b. (the blotches should now have turned from green to brown) 5. soak in vinegar and dish-soap 6. soak in bleach (this step seemed to accomplish nothing) 7. Hook up 2 wires to a 6v battery.. touch the wires on the blotches to super-heat the blotches.. (any clumps were burned and flaked off now) 8. light brown stains remain. I suggest not trying to remove green blotches the way I did haha...
Well Orange Gold, it goes against the purist's grain to not strongly advise someone not to try and experiment cleaning coins, but experience says that people will most often try anyway. If you had more valuable coins, I would have done so above, but in all honesty you had recognized that already. Now you know that although chemical reactions can help certain aspects of a coin, they can more readily worsen others, or make whole new ones. If one wishes to experiment, use common pocket coins you can spend later. Also use the search button to search "cleaning coins", "verdigris", etc. You will be surprised at the number of postings. Much of the information will be incorrect, but it is a starting point Jim
Funng because I was going through a medicine bottle of wheeties and I fould at least fifteen 1957d coins. All had a reddish color to them, except one or two. Have you heard anything else about this?
Umm but doesn't this go against everything that's thought? I thought that cleaning any coin to the degree of household chemicals,boiling,is the fastest way to devalue a coin and ruin any luster that ma6 or may not have been there..
Yes, but the conversation you just replied to happened 4 years ago. I suspect the original poster has heard about it a time or two since.
Didn't waste my time; I'm only here because I have the time to waste. It never hurts to get another admonition about inappropriate cleaning in front of the readership.
Something struck the coin in the date area. (Another coin, anything.) And moved/broke the digits which are raised metal and relatively soft, and easy to move/break. As a wheat cent you are in the .02 cent area.
