Father-in-law had no slabbed coins in his collection, all in cardboard 2x2's or smaller. He stored them in a drawer system as pictured, red felt for 2x2 size and blue felt for smaller. 4 drawers to a case and cases are stackable. I was taking the drawers right out of their case to see if they needed cleaning. When i removed the bottom drawer in one case there were 4 paper envelopes laying in the bottom of the case. Each one contained a 1964(p) proof, missing was the 1 cent from which i assume was a mint set at one time. When i slid the coins out of their envelopes they all had the same ugly (toning?) on them. Is there anything I can do to improve their look (without damaging them)?
I personally don't clean coins but I've seen many people that have been doing it for years on here recommend using 100% acetone.
Thanks. Nothing to lose anyway with these. I will take before and after fotos and when i am done will create a thread. Might be an interesting discussion point as it involves proofs.
Understand what acetone will do, which is to remove ORGANIC contaminants. It won't do squat if that's actually toning (thin-film silver sulfide). It can't hurt toning, but ...
With nearly 4 million struck (and this one poorly struck) I think it will be a good exercise. Regardless of a good or bad result I think it will be of benefit to the members here to see what happens
