How Can I Clean My Coins?

The green is verdigris, not mold. The coins are corroded. Not sure about the "clay", post some pictures.

Follow the solvent polarity ladder. Soak for 24 hours in the following solvent in this order:

1) distilled water
2) acetone
3) xylene

At the end of each soaking stage, keep the coin under fluid and try prodding the residue with a toothpick to see it will come off.

Try distilled water first. If that works, you are done.

If not, try acetone. If that works, you are done.

If not, try xylene. If that works, you are done.

If not, you are still done, because anything else you try will ruin the coin.

That green "mold" I think is most likely PVC damage and it can be taken off with acetone. I generally don't just wash coins but like you said these were cheap. You can lightly use a q-tip on them I would soak in acetone and distilled water.

Here are the Ikes, after soaking in the acetone bath for 36 hours, staining of both sides were the adhesive was.

I am actually soaking a V nickels of my own. I realize that soaking in distilled water and acetone don't hurt coins but don't like going threw it without seeing improvements. This coin soaked for twenty four hours, the color of the stained areas was red but turned black so I am thinking maybe a longer soak may help it more. Others I am soaking are just really cruddy and hard to check out the grade or details.

Liquid solvents have differing polarities, i.e. charge differentials. Residues can also have a wide range of polarites, polar to non-polar. In chemistry, there's a saying "like dissovles like". In order for a solvent to be effective, it has to be "like" the residue. As an example, take some tar and try to dissolve it in water....nothing will happen. Now, take some tar and try to dissolve it in xylene, it will completely dissolve. Tar is a non-polar residue and xylene is a non-polar solvent, like dissolves like. You can also think about your hands. Work on a car and your hands are black with grease. Do you think simply rinsing them under water will clean them? Of course not, because grease and oil are non-polar and water is a highly polar solvent.

Also, there is no need to rinse after using acetone or xylene, unless it's with more, fresh, clean acetone or xylene. Both solvents are volatile and will evaporate away on their own in seconds. In fact, I NEVER recommend letting ANY water on a coin surface since it was the root cause of corrosion. The final step should be acetone, which will remove all traces of water and dehydrate the surfaces.

In the end, we want all traces of water removed before storage.

Bought the Acetone today, will clean this weekend and post before and after pictures!