Cleaning silver dimes darkened by old album

My grandmother was a coin collector and my grandfather gave her a
Roosevelt Dimes album for Christmas 1953.
One of them put some uncirculated dimes in it up to 1956.

The album is green, 8" x 5.5", manufactured by
Popular Album - J. Wayte Raymond, Inc. - N.Y.

Unfortunately, the dime sides in contact with the paper were darkened
by something in the paper, resulting in this:

1949 Roosevelt dime, mintmark unknown:


Any advice on cleaning a dime in this condition?

 

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Don't mess with it.

It's unfortunate that the reverse toning is so dark, but I'm betting that it doesn't look so bad in person.

The coin is of minor value in brilliant uncirculated condition, so why clean it? Right now, it's original, and some collector may fall in love with it.

Given that the toning is so dark, I'd remove the coin from the album at this point, and place it in a 2x2 holder, but that's about it.

 

Agreed^

 

On this example I can not read the mintmark.
Some are totally black on the sides which faced the album paper.

 

It may not have a MM

 

That thing is toast, dip that sucker. Unfortunately, I can't give directions on how to dip a coin, it is against my religion.

 

Dip, dip, dip it!

Dip it,
get a good modern coin dip, put a cup of plain warm water next to it, next to that put a cup of distilled water, put a little (just about 1/2 gram) baking soda in the warm water, using plastic spoon or plastic tweezers lower the coin into the the dip but keep the coin in the spoon (during this process you must maintain a way to hold on to the coin with something that will not let it drop in the dip or get any of it on your skin or otherwise Mar the coin) for 1/4 second, put the the coin in the warm water baking powder solution still holding the coin in the spoon, for 1 second then rinse in the distilled water, blot dry with a soft cotton towel or rag pressing down on the coin but not rubbing it. Do not get the dip on your skin or breath the fumes.
Never let the coin sit in the solution and don't let it drop - if in the coin is in dip for more than one second the coin might be ruined.
Only to be attempted by adults and only realizing you are doing this to improve and otherwise unusable coin and only on silver, silver clad or modern clad coinage.
This process is a perfectly acceptable way to clean/preserve coins and when I said 1/4 of a second I meant it.
Hope this helps,
Ben, (do it often) time Peters

 

you can buy commercial dips, with a 1/2 second plunge remove years of toning.

 

To begin with from what you describe I suspect your talking about a folder, not an album. Folders are a sheet of paper with a cardboard, slotted piece glued to that. What you have appears to be what is common with such products. The sheets of paper are layed out, rolled with glue, the cardboard slotted sections layed down on that and forced dryed. Folded, sent out to stores everywhere. These have been mass produced for some time now and are again regaining popularity for all the dollar coins and the state quarters.
If the folders are stored in a humid area, the glue absorbs some of the moisture and it sticks to the coins. Many kids when putting old, worn coins in those slots used to spit on the coin to make it stick to the glue.
Since you coins are not the really rare, valueable types, I suggest you try some of the simple methods to get rid of that stuff on the coins.
Start with just soaking in distilled water for several days. Not tap water, distilled water. This may disolve some or even all the glue if that is what it primarily is. If it has combined with the actual metal of the coin, it may well be to late.
Next you may want to invest in a can of Acetone from a paint department in a store. If you do, first type in Acetone in the search area on any coin forum. Should be billions of posts on that. (slight exageration you know)
Other things to attempt to try are things around the house that are not hazardous as Actone is not a nice thing to have laying around
Some people swear by Olive Oils. Others say they have attempted to use baking soda and water solutions with a really soft, gentle finger rub.
If you really want to see them look like new again, there is always jewelery cleaners from Walmart.
The thing to remember is once you clean a coin, it is now considered a cleaned coin. What ever value it had is now much, much, much less.

 

Personally, I would just put it back in the folder and leave it alone. A collection in an old folder might have more value to some people than the individual coins, particularly if they are obviously cleaned.

 

personally this would have much greater value to me as something handed down from grandma than it would ever have as collector value. Keep it the way grandma had it.


Richard

 

Dip it - it's only a Roosevelt, it won't change the course

Dip it it's only a Roosevelt and it would only improve the coin. It certainly won't change the course of history as we know it.
I'm going to start calling you guys the anti-cleaners conspiracy league!
I have never seen a group so opposed to what is a common used and accepted practice in my life - leave it like it is????????? I can find no logic at all in that alternative, if fact it is not an alternative it's an avoidance. Do you folks not wax your cars because it takes a tiny bit of paint off? Of course not, the alternative is worse. I just don't know how you could say about "that dime" to leave it like it is - it's not logical, it does not make sense and it is not giving the most constructive opinion to the question. Once we had a 1963 Proof doublED die reverse Roosevelt DDR-001, the big one in an old ANACS holder graded Proof 63 because it had some spots and toning - now you should know that nobody that is a die variety specialist wants a proof 63 in nothing - we dipped it sent it to PCGS, got an proof 67 and change a $225 coin to a $750 coin and that was a big time coin - the coin in question is not - your advice is not logical on this coin - I support your right to have an opinion but on this one it is not the best answer by far.

Ben (again not afraid and I really don't clean but 1 out of 100 coins) Peters

 

I would think that dipping an uncirculated dime might ruin the luster on the obverse with unpredictable results on the reverse.

 

It is kinda ugly toning but then again it is kinda sad to see 60+ years of toning gone in 1/2 of a second.

 

Ben,

Just so I am clear on your position, you advocate dipping a coin basically for selling at or above a current price. Do you then feel it is justifiable to tone a common coin, say a 1922 Peace , to maybe sell for more than the market price for a white 1922 Peace?
I still do not see why some feel it is OK to dip a coin for a better selling opportunity, but yet not tone a coin for the same reason.I am interested in your opinion.

Jim

 

That's an interesting way to put it. To be ethically consistent, it seems folks should be for both or against both. Maybe the exception is to prevent damage to coins from over-toning.

 

It looks to me like the obverse of the coin is fine while the reverse appears to have some paper or glue remains stuck to it.

I would be very careful in what you do as you do not want to clean the coin but rather want to remove the paper or glue portion stuck on the coin and see how the coin looks with the toning still intact.

The best way to get glue off I found is to use acetone outside with a distilled water rinse to clean off the acetone. Don't let the acetone dry on the coin or it will be worse that doing nothing to the coin.

Once you try acetone and if the paper and glue are removed you might be surprised to see a wonderful coin with that natural toning.

 

You know... some people pay extra for Wayte Raymond toned coins... I am one of them.

...and about cars; some classic cars are worth hundreds of thousands with un-restored finishes (original patina), and tens of thousands with restoration.
its like antiques. people want old toys with the original paint, furniture with the original finish... and coins that have not been altered artificially.
IMO dipping is damage.