I recently bought 46 Washington quarters in a Whitman (2) folder - upon removing them, I noticed that the edges on all of the quarters were tarnished quite dark, the obverse and reverse were ok. The folder has a copyright date of 1980. Is this a common problem with silver coins kept in cardboard coin folders ? The coins have no numismatic value - is it worth the trouble to try to remove the tarnish from the edges with aluminum foil/baking soda or dipping ?
This is a quite common with silver coins that have been in old blue Whitman folders for a while. It can actually impart some nice and unique eye appeal sometimes especially on peace dollars and morgans. I would probably leave them be personally
What are the dates of the coins? You say silver but you say the coins have no value. If the coins are silver, they have value. In general, I wouldn't recommend touching the coins. If you say they have no value, you could always experiment cleaning them. What's the aluminum foil trick? Never heard of that. But it doesn't sound good!
complete set 1946-1964 in vg-au condition - they're worth $3-4 each - check out a coin cleaning thread on here for details of the hot water + aluminum foil + baking soda recipe and procedure
It's actually a simple chemical reduction - give the sulfur which causes the toning something (aluminum) it's much more attracted to, and it abandons the silver for a new home, leaving an untoned coin behind. It exemplifies (in concept) what I consider to be "righteous" coin conservation. If you're not a fan of toners.
Thanks for the feedback. No thanks on that cleaning process or formula. If anything, I "might" use coin care or MS 70 on a VERY limited bases, that's it. But if it works for you, great. I would like to see your before and after pictures.
I once got a older Whitman album with slide windows. It was pretty old, but it still had a plastic sleeve over it so it was never used. I saw that the staples or screws holding it together were rusted but didn't think much of it. The coins I put in there started developing green/blue mold after weeks or a few months. These albums, especially older ones, may have acid in the cardboard or something else dangerous to coins. You never know. I still find albums for good deals but always check the coins weekly to be safe. I probably wouldn't buy older ones again
