I'm a newbee so excuse me if I worded my search wrong and this is a subject that has already been covered. I bought a roll of silver Kennedys that were under flood water for a long time. The paper from the roll has attached it self to the coins. I tried soaking in DI water long term. Then DI water and MILD dish soap. NO HELP. I soaked one coin in olive oil for several days and it worked. Is this Hoyle? Is it considered cleaning? Should I do the rest of the roll? Any help is appreciated. Fred
Ahhh the term as a bunch of meanings but in the truest since yeah but not in the way that make most squirm in pain. Flood coins are so hard to take care of but you have to do something as they will normally continue to degrade. Granted I don't know what DI water is but I'm figuring it's not a harsh cleaner right? So far the steps you've taken have been great. I'm just going to presume you didn't scoure or scrape the coin with something abrasive right?
DI take it is distilled water? I dont know anything about the conservation of water damaged coins but I am sure that some of the guy's here will so please do keep checking on this thread.
WELCOME TO THE FORUM. Oddly enough if the Olive Oil works, you may want to continue trying that method. Acetone would be preferred since it has no effect on the coins. There are things to remember though. The Olive Oil will leave a residue on the coins that should be removed. The Distilled water and Dish soap may do that for you but again, note the Dish soap may also leave a residue on the coins so Distilled water may have to be used again to remove that. Another problem with Olive Oil, Dish Soap, etc is those are manufactured items and they may be considerably different from one to another. This is really important with Dish Soaps. Manufacturers add many ingrediants that are of no usage for a soap, but are essential to stop other manufacturers from copying thier products. Their actual formulae are propriatary and although they may list some or most of the ingrediants, they neve tell the percentages. To sum this up I mean that what works with some coins with some products may ruin other coins from other products.
The last reply to my request for help was "Don't clean your coins ". The coins I referred were stored in a drawer for a week or two. When I opened the drawer, the smell almost knocked me over. Don't clean your coins, may be good general advice for most situations, but there are exceptions.
AAHHH, yes that old soot on the coin problem. Then too imagine the surprize in removing that soot to find it was only a washer. In reality your partially correct but using extreame instances. For example a coin that was in a fire may well have been damaged beyond recongnition and attempting to clean off the soot may only show such damage and make it worse. Coins found in the ground too may have already been damaged beyond usage as a numismatic item. However, I say MAY since cleaning of coins done improperly and/or with chemicals that MAY do more damage than good is why most say DON'T CLEAN COINS.
Hello and welcome Fred. Yes - there is a time and place to "conserve" these coins if at all possible. I worked with a batch of burned kennedy halves and nothing would help those coins. All were sold for scrap silver. Those were the only coins I have ever worked on - we tried dipping one of the better soot covered coins, but to no avail. So in this case I do not think you are hurting the coins. Just read what is posted around the board. There is a difference between cleaning and conserving - that is what I have learned lately. Cleaning to me is a method to make the coin look like a higher grade and conserving is just trying to preserve the coin from further damage. I have not tried either, but others around have.
A lot depends on the condition of the coins before the flood damage. If they were common circulated or lower BU coins, the cleaning probably didn't hurt the resale value because it is almost entirely based on the silver value anyway. If they were very high MS coins before the flood, they might have benefited from better care than you gave them. It's generally not a good idea to clean coins except as a last resort, and if the coins are valuable, professional help can be sought.
Come on, are you serious!?!? :computer: He is not wanting a big message that says DON'T CLEAN YOUR COINS! I would recommend 100% pure acetone. (It must be pure) Then after you have removed the "gunk" rinse the coins with distilled water.
I am giving him what he asked for! I am sure he knows the "don't clean your coins" and the reasons. But that is under NORMAL CONDITIONS! Not water damaged coins!
We are not talking mid-1700's in this case - just some kennedy halves. In the case of the mid-1700's it would probably be best to hire someone to conserve them if you have not done it before. I would not send common date coins for conservation - not worth the cost. You just do your best.
