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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Jillian, post: 3571073, member: 104446&quot;]Wow, what a thread!&nbsp; I see it has been 9 months since the last post, but I hope some of the experienced coin collectors on this thread will still see my post and be able to offer me some guidance and suggestions on a BIG coin preservation project that I am about to undertake as a total newbie!&nbsp; Let&#039;s start with a few sample photos in <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/M98G4dxqeGgY8Xwf6" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/M98G4dxqeGgY8Xwf6" rel="nofollow">my Google album</a> for reference.</p><p><br /></p><p>During my 40 years on the planet, I have mostly purchased new gold and silver coins, rounds, and bars for wealth preservation, so numismatics is a new area for me to explore. I did a lot of research over the past week because I had an opportunity to purchase a large coin collection (mostly circulated coins) from a woman who lost her husband many years ago and finally decided she was ready to let go of his belongings.&nbsp; The coin collection was an unexpected bonus, as we were just there to purchase some machinery from his woodshop!</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, she had no interest in or knowledge of the collection, so she just wanted me to make her an offer. I took pictures of all the album pages and other individual pieces in the collection and put together a spreadsheet of values based almost exclusively on melt value because I was in no position to say whether or not any of the items in the collection had any numismatic value -- I could guess based on some information I found on the web, but those were still pure guesses.&nbsp; Additionally, some of the silver coins in the extremely old plastic album pages showed a greenish tint or residue and I had no idea what that would do to the value.</p><p><br /></p><p>I ended up purchasing the collection at a discount from melt value (about what she would have received had a metals dealer been willing to purchase it from her: silver spot price less a typical fee charged by metals dealers).&nbsp; Now that the collection is mine I am able to more closely inspect the coins to look for damage or rare/special pieces -- there are over 800 coins in this collection so who knows what I may find in it!</p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately, as I have been able to inspect the collection more closely at home in better lighting, I can see that a majority of the coins have some amount of greenish damage/residue, which I am assuming is PVC damage.&nbsp; This is seen on almost all of the silver coins in the old, disintegrating album pages (Mercury Dimes, Roosevelt Dimes, Standing Liberty Quarters, Washington Quarters, Walking Liberty Half Dollars, Ben Franklin Half Dollars, Kennedy Half Dollars, and a few Morgan Dollars and Peace Dollars).&nbsp; The Buffalo Nickels stored in similar pages appear free of this damage, but that would be expected since it is my understanding that nickel would not experience PVC damage as silver would.</p><p><br /></p><p>I read through the discussion in the first 3-4 pages of this thread regarding cleaning PVC damage with 100% pure acetone and I appreciate all of that information so much.&nbsp; However, with a collection this size and so much of it showing what appears to be PVC damage, I am overwhelmed thinking of how to tackle the cleaning of each one of these coins! </p><p><br /></p><p>Here is the basic process summed up: A shot glass for bath 1, bath 2, bath 3, one coin per bath/dip, coin will typically need to rest for 10 mins to 24 hours in the first bath, use wooden chopsticks to move it between baths (I&#039;m not sticking my fingers into acetone over and over thousands of times and I saw no other good recommendations for a tool to use), maybe rinse with distilled water, maybe use a hair dryer on low to dry....and then repeat this process 600 times for all the coins that show this greenish residue! </p><p><br /></p><p>If you have a handful of coins to treat for PVC damage, this process sounds fine, but let&#039;s be serious -- it could take me years to do it this way!&nbsp; Does anyone have any other suggestions for me on how I might speed up this process?&nbsp; Or perhaps a different approach I might be able to take to cut down the time for such a large batch of coins?&nbsp; I think I read early in this thread that an ultrasonic cleaner was a big no-no but I don&#039;t recall why. </p><p><br /></p><p>Also, any other tips for me on handling the coins?&nbsp; Gloves or not?&nbsp; What about the coins which don&#039;t need a PVC bath, like the&nbsp; Buffalo Nickels?&nbsp; How should I physically handle those?&nbsp; I have both soft cotton gloves and latex-free nitrile gloves that I use to protect my hands when I paint or stain wood in our shop.&nbsp; Side note, I also have goggles and a mask to protect from VOCs when I paint or stain, so I could use these for the acetone project as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next, my questions revolve around storage going forward.&nbsp; I already purchased (from Amazon) flexible album pages which contain no PVC and 2x2 coin flips which contain no PVC (the flips fit in the album pages).&nbsp; I want the collection to be protected, viewable, and also consolidated (if there was a fire, for example, I want to be able to grab the collection and get out), so an album seemed like a good choice rather than just a whole bunch of flips or &quot;airtight&quot; plastic coin cases which would not be very portable. </p><p><br /></p><p>Does anyone have other storage suggestions for me or any words of caution about the storage materials that I purchased?&nbsp; We all know cheap goods come from China these days, so should I be worried about these items not being PVC-free as advertised and perhaps purchase from somewhere else (likely at a higher price)?&nbsp; I was able to purchase enough flips and album pages for those flips, plus a magnifying glass to help my aging eyes, for about $65, and I still need to purchase the albums themselves -- this seemed like a worthwhile expense to protect the collection, but if I need to spend more to be CERTAIN that the collection is protected, I&#039;d like to know before I dive into these products and can no longer return them.&nbsp; Of course, when you add in the cost of all the acetone I&#039;m going to need, the expenses really begin to add up fast.</p><p><br /></p><p>I sincerely appreciate any advice the group can offer.&nbsp; I want to protect and preserve these amazing coins that have been rotting away in these old album pages for years, but I figured it was important to reach out to this group in case this is not PVC damage and I need to go down a different road entirely, or in case the expert opinion would be to leave these coins untreated and simply transfer them to new cases.&nbsp; Thank you![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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