green corrosion on flying eagle cents

I bought a cup of wheat pennies and flying eagle cents. The problem is some have green corrosion. What should I do about that?

 

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Verdi-care and a toothpick.

 

I don't know if there is much you can do about the corrosion. Of course, you should NEVER clean a coin but you can try getting some q-tips and dipping them in a mild detergent such as Dawn dish soap and warm water. Then gently try to remove the dirt/corrosion, just don't get to harsh like rubbing hard or scrubbing, just be gentle. Rinse in warm water and pat them dry with a soft towel, remember, DON'T RUB. That's probably the safest way to try and rid some of it. If the corrosion is green like you stated, that's a pretty bad sign because underneath that corrosion you're most likely going to find some harsh pitting on the coins surface.

Hopefully this can help you. Good luck!

 

Verdi-Care? Where can you acquire it and is it a stable chemical compound for metal surfaces, such as coins? Thanks!

 

If a good consensus is important, use the search function to see where similar material has been archived. Just enter Verdicare in the SEARCH box above. You then get a listing of threads. Some will be informative and useful, others repeated dogma, others who just want to talk. So pick good authors to read.

The thread below is interesting as the author is Bad Thad ( the inventor of Verdicare, and a professional industrial chemist).
http://http://www.cointalk.com/t96669/

 

You have a cup full. My first advice would be to soak all of them a couple of days in tap water to loosen up anything that will loosen up. Change the water often and after a couple of days use some sodium bicarbonate (bicarbonate of soda, baking soda) dissolved in water to soak them for awhile to neutralize the chemical corrosion that verdigris represents. Rinse thoroughly with tap water several times and do a final rinse with distilled water. In the final rinse, use a toothpick or cotton swab to see if any of the green verdigris can be removed. On cases you want to treat further, use Verdi-care (look online for instructions). Good Luck. Pictures are always appreciated.

 

The green stuff looks like it might be wax. Would there be any problem boiling them in tap water?

 

Wow... I've been collecting since 1952 and never heard of anyone boiling their coins in tap water. It doesn't sound like a very good idea to me.

 

I do it to gold jewelry and it really helps. I can't think of what harm it might do to copper.

 

Maybe you want to try one of these methods:

http://www.cointalk.com/t223316/