Large Collection Ruined?

I'm surprised no one has suggested for you to sell off a few so that you can save/enjoy the rest. It's a shame to hide these coins away just because they don't have the eye appeal you feel they should have.

You brought up the example of collector cars and how once they are repainted they are never the same... I have to disagree with your logic, because, as in your example of collector cars, in the hands of a true expert, the most run down, most pitiable can be made to look showroom new. In some cases, better than showroom new.

If I had a barn full of rusted out collector cars, rather than just shaking my head and shutting the doors in disgust, I'd decide which ones I'd really want to enjoy and find someone to bring them back to life and sell off the rest to pay for them.

I feel you would honour your Grandfather more by having/enjoying/showing off a few rather than hiding away the whole bunch. And too, those you save by restoring them (or having them professionally restored), might you have children or grandchildren of your own that you could personally pass on to them? Your Grandfather touched you through these coins, and maybe there is someone you can touch yourself with the ones you decide to save?

Things to think about. We all here collect/love coins for all sorts of reasons, and even if you don't wish to dive in to the hobby as some of us here have, coins are history and deserve to be honoured as such in some way or another.

Best of luck to you!
Les

Believe me when I tell you it's gnawing at me to just hide them away again. The issue is in so many words I've been told if I attempt to alter them in any way I would be considered irresponsible and foolish. I wish the same thought process existed in the coin community as does in the collector car community. I have one in my garage. I scoured the swap meets long before the internet existed hunting down what's called new old stock parts in their original wrappers. These are parts made by GM that were never sold, brand new. I spent years making every detail of the car show as if, and most times better than when it rolled off the assembly line. Now this car is beautiful, but I can't say it's original.The paint on it was not applied at the GM plant, but car people understand that unless it is a one of a kind near perfect example it's common practice to restore a vehicle that time and the environment has taken its toll on. It is also not frowned upon when owners decide to do as much of the work themselves as possible, it's actually a major draw to the hobby and often a family bonding experience. It's like anything else, some people are hacks, and some people enjoy the details and doing a good job at recreating what once was....carefully. I'm the latter.
In the coin community it seems you would be a pariah if you tried to remove a black spot from the edge of a coin without paying someone to do it. It's a night and day difference from other hobbies I've been involved with. Most of these coins I posses do not seem to be the holy grail. In looking at values of coins marked $20.00 in 1976 I see prices of $50-75 today. I'm sure some would be worth more but I don't see any $10,000.00 coins here. So yes I am frustrated by the whole affair and I don't find it easy to put them away again as is, it is actually causing me considerable discomfort.
The other issue is there seems to be no information out there on how to address a small spot without dipping the whole coin which I would not be willing to do. Maybe it's to discourage others, I don't know. I was not able to research that, only dipping the whole coin. I'm not willing to learn how to dip coins and take material from the rest of what are beautiful coins for a few black spots at the outer rim of these coins. I don't think that's necessary. So they sit in storage again. Again, I'm not just giving up on them because I'm lazy or don't care about them..I've been told and read for the most part never touch them or you're a fool. Thanks again for the interest in this thread.

I feel the major issue is that aside from bad methods there is no information that I have found on the proper method to remove or lessen a spot at the edge of a coin. I would love to investigate and research it but the information isn't out there. It's like a trade secret that isn't allowed out in the light of day. There are people who know how this is done obviously as you can pay someone to do it for you correctly. I don't know anything about coins other than what I've read in the last few days so I'm sure I'm missing the vast majority of everything relevant to them. I ask, what do they do to these coins when you send them away? Why is that not as far as I can tell public knowledge. Why are there not specific techniques and materials being discussed openly? Maybe I have just not looked in the right places for this info but it sure does seem restricted to me. Why wouldn't it be a good idea to have specific discussion about something like this as opposed to people just experimenting with known bad methods and ruining coins? Not everyone is a fool and some are quite capable of learning the proper techniques with patience and solid proven methods/information. I understand the whole never clean your coins attitude just from what I've learned over the last few days. I agree it is sound advice for the vast majority of people looking for a quick fix to something they don't like the looks of. Conversely saying never clean coins is not an honest blanket statement in that you can pay to have your coins 'conserved/cleaned'. In that case then there should not exist institutions that do it for money as that seems hypocritical. This is just my opinion based on my whole 3 days of research lol. I think people should have access to the proper techniques rather than using pencil erasers, toothpicks, and jewelry dips due to a lack of informational transparency. I bet more coins are ruined because people who would love to know the correct procedure can't find that information. I hope the opinions I've given aren't offensive but they are coming from an outsider applying what I think is just general logic. Thanks.

I agree the vast majority aren't ruined. A few days ago I did think that but I have done my own research. Why would you think I would take them to a wire wheel? My whole point of my previous post is what are these machines and techniques?

There are a lot of different topics here about coin conservation, but I cannot point to one that has almost all of the information in one place (I am still looking).

Exactly. The value of the coin may be lowered by the presence of "ugly" toning, however, the value will go further down if the coin is polished. To answer your questions about conserving coins, here are some common chemicals that are available to the collector:

Acetone. Acetone is used to remove staining that happened on the coin recently. For example, if you accidentally leave a fingerprint on the coin, an acetone dip will remove it,
Veri-Care. Verdi-Care is used to neutralize verdigris from copper coins to prevent the verdigris from spreading.

These are just some of the methods used to conserve coins. I'm sorry about the black colored spots that have appeared on the coins. The best thing to do is to store the coins in PVC free flips or 2 x 2s. Do not worry about the black spots, they add some character to your coins.

To the Forum.

chafemasterj has some excellent advice.