corroded coins

what do i do with them? 2 are buffalor nickles, the reverses are corroded but the obverses are ok. the other is 1881 cent? it's so corroded i can only make out 1881 and the large 1. i have no idea where my parents got them, probably ended up in their pocket change when they were kids. my mother passed all the old coins on to me. some i put back into circulation. but what about these? can they be salvaged? i also don't have any other buffalor nickels or 1881 cents if that's what it is.

and because they're corroded i keep them separate so they don't infect other coins.

 

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they can be sold as culls, about 50 cents for the Indian, the buffs? about 7 cents.

 

olive oil

Soak then in olive oil for a few weeks - what have you got to lose?
Ben

 

ok, here they are.
the 2 on the left are the nickels.
the one on the right is the 1881.

 

Hint, hint hint!

The same size overall picture with the unnecessary white space cropped out give a much larger image of the subject.

 

ok, i cropped out the white space.

 

here's a copy of the other side. and no, it's not american. i don't know it's nationality, but based on the little i could see through the magnifier, it ain't american born.
and since my father is a vietnam vet and ended up with quite a few forgeign coins, there is a chance this one ended up in some pocket change while in vietnam.

and when you say pure acetone, i take it you don't mean fingernail polish remover? i read a thread on acetone a few months back but couldn't get a clear understanding of whether or not fingernail polish remover is pure acetone or not.

 

No fingernail polish, pure acetone from the hardware store.

 

The mystery coin looks germanic or russian. It's rotated about 80 degrees clockwise from normal rotation. I don't see any cyrillic letters, so probably not russian.

 

HELDEMUNZ are the letters i can make out. they are all next to each other. the L could be a U.

 

i can make out FIDE i am sure it not a chess token though

 

The coin has the look of an Austrian 1 Kreuzer. Look those up on the Internet and you might be able to make out the designs and lettering and identify this. The year fits right in with those.

 

THAT'S IT!!! i googled the coin with the date and saw several pictures that match what i can see. thanks.

now the question is, to remove the corrosion, do i soak those in acetone also?

 

GD is that acetone like nail polish remover type or is there a different kind????

 

Yeah, I've got a few of those lying around, someplace, myself, that's how I fingered it. On that corrosion, I'd say you just have to accept the fact, that's part of the coin, now. If you need a harder liquor than acetone, I've used xylene (xylol), which is paint stripper, and a sawed-down tooth brush. Read the warnings on that can first and follow them to the letter!!! But, I wouldn't expect anything outside of very marginal results, at best, removing only whatever foreign material may be clinging on for dear life to that corroded surface.

 

Consider the following: If the coins in question are not worth a lot of money, then to spend additional money attempting to restore them is rediculous. I suggest just putting those in water and allowing them to sit there for a few days. If that doesn't work, purchasing addtional products will accomplish very little. For example to purchase a can of Acetone would cost about $4 or more. A trip to a store cost money in gas for your car and your time and again, those coins are just not monitarily worth the effort.
You could search this forum for Acetone and find many post about cleaning and not cleaning coins.
For any coin in that condition, it would have to be worth something substantial for you to try cleaning. If you want to keep those, wash with water, dry, put in a thing called a 2x2 and seal.