Uh-Oh.. Coins In An Older Harco Coinmaster Album - PVC Damage?!

In my experience it will take much more than a dip and rinse
to remove all the PVC.

I use jars with lid .. like empty pickle jars.

Put enough acetone to cover the coin(s). I would not put more than a few coins at a time.




For example - painted coins like the one above, I leave in for
two or three weeks.

Then rinse and pat dry.

Let sit on clean paper or towel for at least a day, before putting them
in a new album.

with GR58 and jbuck.

Thanks for the advice.

I will try to take a few pictures in the next couple of days and upload them for you to see.

Michael

Do not rub with a q-tip. I like to "swish the coins in the acetone, I feel that if you just let it soak the acetone close to the coin becomes saturated with "stuff"and stops working. Agitation or swishing the coin in the acetone continually exposes it to fresh solvent. I also use a two or three step acetone bath. When you remove the coin from the first container of acetone there will be "stuff" dissolved in the acetone still on the coin. A second container of acetone removes most of that and sometime I even use a third container (each one is less and less contaminated.) After the final cointainer do a FLOWING rinse with fresh acetone by pouring it over the coin. (not a dip or soak) This will flush away the last traces of contamination and leave just pure acetone on the coin. The acetone should air dry in just a few seconds leaving nothing on the coin.

Some people like to do a distilled water rinse, but then how do you get the water off the coin? Patting dry risks scratches, air dry risks spots. A flowing rinse with fresh acetone though will remove most of the water and any that remains will dissolve into the acetone and be carried off in a few seconds as it evaporates.

Here are some quick (and not so great) photos of the coins.
This is with my iphone (and older one) and they are still in the album, through it is through the plastic pages and they are still in the sleeves.
But hopefully, you get an idea of what they look like.
Many of the coins in the album "look fine", but these are the ones that seem to be the worst.
Will the acetone bath fix this?
Thanks.
Michael














(Sorry the images aren't great - I can take them out of the album and the slides if that would help).

I had a Harco album back in the 1970s that I filled with BU Roosevelt dimes. And then along came girls and life and kids and it was put away for about 30 years. When I got them out several years ago they had green slime all over them. I took them out and put them in acetone and It didn't take long for them to look as good as when I put them in there. I'm sure acetone will do the trick.

Good luck.

Like many others, I also dealt with PVC damage, but not nearly as severe as what your photos show. It was from 20-pocket 2X2 vinyl pages and the coins were in 2X2's which probably limited the exposure somewhat. But I would suggest you might want to think about giving ALL the coins an acetone bath, not just the ones with obvious problems. If you do a few of the cleanest looking ones first, you can reuse the acetone for the first bath of the greenest patients. Be careful with the acetone, it passes easily through skin.