Large Collection Ruined?

oriole is correct. All of us are just trying to help. You have some coins that are potentially valuable if conserved in the correct way. If improperly cleaned, however, the value may go down significantly. We are trying to help you avoid a costly mistake.

Can you tell us exactly what you did to that coin? That is, what substances did you use, was it rubbed or dipped, what else did you use? I am honestly puzzled as to why it would take you 2 hours and give you a stiff neck.

From the pictures it does not look like you harmed it, but sometimes damage can be subtle.

That looks pretty good brocephus. Thanks for the before and after. I can't see any scratches and silver is pretty unforgiving.

Well probably the reason I had a stiff neck is because I'm not that young anymore and staying in one position for extended periods will do that. I was holding that coin while looking through a jewelers visor for a long time. Let me preface telling you what I did by stating I wish I knew what the proper chemicals/tools/ procedure is for just dealing with a few spots but I haven't been able to find that out. Most all of what I see deals with dipping in harsh solutions. I didn't want any part of putting something on the coin that was harsh and that I would need to rush to rinse off.
You will probably find it ridiculous how I did it but being I don't know how it's done I improvised. The vast majority was a lot of blotting and tickling. I now know that Never Dull is not an option, as is rubbing. I did however find that whatever chemical is used to treat the cotton wadding in Never Dull is not very harsh.but it does loosen up the black spots. So I wondered how I could get that chemical onto the coin without having the wadding come with it. I took a bunch of the wadding and squeezed it inside a small piece of soft microfiber. I kept doing this until the cloth had absorbed enough that I thought I could transfer it onto the coin in the spots I wanted it. It takes a lot of time to get the cloth damp! Mind you I'm doing this all under magnification so I could make sure no stray fibers from the cotton wadding were on the microfiber.
Once I had the microfiber slightly damp I would squeeze the spot on the coin without moving the microfiber in any direction. I would blot it and the squeeze it....many times. I also was using a really soft small artist paint brush with that same chemical to tickle around where I wanted the spots gone. If it were a spot not on the face of the coin but on the rim I would transfer the chemical onto a soft eraser and lightly, and I mean lightly tickle the rim with it. I WASN'T erasing but it seemed like the rim could stand something a little more solid to apply the chemical on than the face. Plus the rim is where I find the color is blackest. I restricted this to the rim only. I kept checking what I was doing under magnification often, this is why it took so long.
When I removed as much as I was comfortable with I rinsed the coin and blotted it with distilled water and another microfiber. After it dried I rinsed it in Acetone to make sure nothing remained on the coin.
I'll probably get flack for what I did or laughed at but as you can see the coin was not a perfect coin by any stretch to begin with. I looked at it before, during, and after and I don't see any scratches that I put on it. Could there be some that I don't see, sure, but I did the best I could with what I had.
I would love to find out how it's supposed to be done and what's actually supposed to be used but so far I only see people talking about dipping the whole coin. Maybe one day I'll find that specific chemical/tools/process discussed somewhere for spots but so far I haven't been able to.
I'm not doing this to all my coins, I'm not doing this to all my coins!! I just wanted to experiment. I think if I had the correct information I could be successful with some practice. All I can say is the coin is easier for me to look at than before and it's not the caliber of coin that I think trying this on would be considered a travesty. So that's how I did it and why it took so long. But I am retired and curious so I don't consider it wasted time. Thanks.

The biggest issue for me is getting the right chemical and getting it in a form that can be easily applied to whatever it is you're going to be using to contact the coin. Most of my time was wasted trying to get enough of whatever is on that wadding onto the coin. If it were in liquid form much more time could be devoted to actually manipulating the instrument of your choice on the coin. I'm sure it must be a delicate balance though, probably too much of anything at once could have bad ramifications.

I have quite a few rolls of just plain old silver coins. I think I'll try and experiment with some of these products on them. The method I used is very time consuming and wasteful. I have a lot to do just in transferring my coins to new holders. While I'm at that I'll try and find some products in liquid form and experiment on my old rolls of coins and see if any show promise.

I have another question if you don't mind. When transferring the coins from old to new holders what type of gloves are safe to handle them with? I have blue nitrile but I have read that cotton is preferred by some. Are nitrile gloves fine? Also is removing one staple and letting the coin slide into your gloved hand by the force of gravity OK, or should I be removing all the staples and just touching the coin on its edges? Thanks.