Wy father, now deceased had a large coin collection. Some of these collectables were unfortunately in the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. Are these coins restorable? If so how do I go about it? Thanks for the anticipated answers. Thira
What types of coins where contaminated? If contaminated, how much? Restoration is a tricky thing which I personally dont know much about and you should probably go to atleast a coin dealer for better information. Some metals on coins will deteriorate faster than others will in certain types of elements.
to CoinTalk Thira. I'm very sorry to hear of your hurricane loss, of which the coin damage is probably only a small part. If I were in your boat, I would make a list of the coins and note the type of contamination. Then I would send the list to >>NCS<<, which is in the business of professionally restoring coins, and ask them which ones are worth the expense of conserving, and how much it would be. (If you had flood insurance and haven't finalized your claim, I believe the conservation costs would be covered damage.) The strong consensus of modern collectors is that coins should not be cleaned under most circumstances. One of the special circumstances that changes that thought is contamination that can cause corrosion or other physical damage to the coin. Even then, "cleaning" is not a do-it yourself task. Unfortunately, conservation is not cheap, and is probably not cost effective for coins worth less than some cutoff point that each collector must set for him/herself. I'm afraid that the coins with significant damage valued below your own cutoff value are just so much scrap metal.
