Proof Coins with Haze/Cloudiness

Dougie found some dynamite,
Couldn't understand it quite,
Curiosity never pays,
It rained Dougie seven days.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Mom's name was Eve?

Dad was Adam?

 

Should @GDJMSP give @Treashunt a like?

 

If you finally give a like, you'll need to hand out several hundreds all at once or there are going to be hurt feelings around CT.

 

This is very common with Proof Coins. Before 1990, mint packaging was poor, so some of your coins might haze over. They were covered with oil, smog, sweat, debris, etc. and then packaged in poor quality products. I don,t buy any kind of dip acetone, or coin cleaning products. Just a 50/50 solution of clear household ammonia and distilled water. Hold by edges, dip several times, rinse well in warm tap water, rinse again in distilled water. Dry with a hair dryer. Don,t dip copper coins unless you reduce the amount of ammonia by another 50%. They may turn pinkish in color or bright brassy look. Safe for silver and clad proofs, this usually removes all of the haze due to environmental damage, humidity, and poor packaging. Many times they look better than original coins.

 

You won't touch acetone but you'll use ammonia on a coin? Wow.

 

Ammonia removes things acetone won't touch. Try an experiment with a tarnished silver fork! Bet the fork in acetone will still not be ready for the Thanksgiving table!

BTW, at present, I have an ancient coin with "verdigris" soaking in acetone (6 days so far) with no noticeable change! When I get REALLY tired with this (futile?) experiment ; I'll "fix" the coin in less than three minutes with another common chemical.

 

SUPERDAVE, I,ve used ammonia for years, why change now??

 

That's a GREAT POINT! A numismatic conservation specialist who has their own strong preferences should probably not comment about the preferences of others. Gosh , I think I may be one of the guilty parties only I'm not a conservation specialist.

MS-70 RULES!!

 

I don't think that I have seen anyone say that acetone would remove verdigris. The only thing that acetone would do for verdigris would be to dehydrate it nicely and prevent any spread.

 

Problem with that...I was just telling someone on the phone that anything green on a coin is being called verdigris by a very large number of posters.

 

True, and that green could be caused by PVC plasticizer. Acetone would work for that.

 

Agreed - as is usually the case with silver coins and modern clads.

 

With most coinage metals, weak (ammonia) or strong (potassium hydroxide) bases are not terribly reactive, much less so than with acids. Prolonged exposure to any of these might trigger some reaction that I have no idea of, but a quick "dip" or rinse shouldn't damage the coin. Specific metals can have specific treatments. Silver seems to be the one that gets the most attention, and copper seems to be very touchy to do anything with. I have some nickel or cu-ni coins that don't seem to have any easy way to clean...and then there is aluminum...

 

You must have been one devil of a lad.......

 

Good Lord.......you were.

 

PM me.

 

It's only been a couple months (and a year ) since we discussed why.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/cleaning-coins-with-ammonia.260487/