Hey All. I have recently been going through my grandmother's coin collection. There was an old Whitman folder for these Indian Head cents, mostly completed. This coin was the only one with any sort of environmental damage on it, I just wanted to get your opinions on how I can preserve/mitigate the damage on the coin? I usually collect ancients so opinions are appreciated!
It appears to be coated with "patina" , evident of what I generally see when a coin has been exposed to the Environment for an extended amount of time . This looks similar to a coin in the ground like may of mine found Metal Detecting . I strongly believe this coin is Environmentally damaged and reviving the specimen is a NO go in my book. Removing it further damages the coin . Here is a Dug Coin like yours.
That was a beautiful coin before the verdigris set in. I've had luck with VerdiCare. I'm not sure who sells it now.
If the verdigras is uniform over the entire coin like SensibleSal's, all I do is stabilize it with VerdiCare and put it in a flip. I'd rather that than a blotchy appearance trying to remove anything. That said, some dug coins require effort to figure out what you might have...and doing that leaves the blotchy look. I'd rather that than a crud encased coin that you can't make out the date.
Thanks all - It is not very uniform on the coin - more uniform on the back than the front. I will have to give VerdiCare a try. I think the battle will be finding some! It is a very nice penny, I can't capture all the details on it. I have separated it temporarily in a flip for storage. Once I treat it I will put it back in a separate box with other quarantined coins. I have seen a video on this forum showing how to remove verdigris with a torch, but I don't think I can bring myself to do that to this particular coin!
You can prepare them by soaking them in acetone. That will remove dirt and impurities for the VerdiCare soak. Why don't you just PM @BadThad? I recall I recently saw him in a thread. He's the chemist who invented it and might have some good ideas for you, even possibly on how you might score some.
