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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,106 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
549 Posts |
I recently bought a bulk lot of IHPs and three of the culls were so crusty, cruddy, and gross that I couldn't even read the dates. I tossed them in olive oil at about 11pm yesterday and just checked on them now. This coin was one of the three. Granted, it's still a worthless coin because of all the corrosion, but take a look at the details on it. I'm now motivated to take the time to check every gross old coin I find, because I might just stumble onto one that looks like this under the crud, but without all the corrosion.  |
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Valued Member
United States
439 Posts |
Yeah, nice details. This didn't see much circulation, you can see the diamonds in the ribbon really well. Kinda makes you wonder what happened to it to get so crusty so early in its life.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
It looks this one was set aside early, but not in the best environment. 100 years of moisture can do that.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
914 Posts |
Worthless coin? That's in better condition than anything in my collection! :D
Try my Xylene approach to one of your coins. I'm sure you'll be happy!
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Valued Member
United States
226 Posts |
Could one of the old style PVC flips caused this much damage over time ? especially if in a high humidity environment ?
Just wondering, as I have come across several IHP's with various degrees of this type of green corrosion.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
It's just verdigris (copper carbonate), and happens easily with a bit of moisture. Unlike PVC damage, it cannot be removed since the actual metal has been replaced.
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Valued Member
United States
243 Posts |
Vaslin
Xylene,sounds like its a very dangerous chemicial.
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Valued Member
United States
499 Posts |
xylene is not all that dangerous so long as it is used in a well ventilated area. It is basically paint brush cleaner and can be bought at Home Depot next to the paint thinner. It also goed by the name of xylol.
Richars
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
549 Posts |
I'm not convinced this was "set aside" by anybody. It wasn't cared for, based on the condition in which I received it. I'm more inclined to think it got buried underground or something early in its life and wasn't rediscovered for 100 or so years. I doubt this coin has ever seen a flip. It was crusted in thick black crusty stuff when I received it yesterday. I could tell that it was an indian head, but just barely. I couldn't even read the date.
I'm very impressed with the olive oil...in less than a day it went from black and crusty to the condition you see in the photo, and I never "scrubbed" it with anything. I just rubbed off the excess olive oil with my thumb and rinsed it.
Vaslin - nothing would help this coin. The surface is destroyed by the corrosion. And if the surface was still in good condition I wouldn't want to use the chemicals anyway because they'd devalue the coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1490 Posts |
How did the reverse turn out?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Well...the only reason I said "set aside" was that it had obviously seen little circulation. Otherwise, that would be evident in LIBERTY and the diamonds band/hair separation. It may have been buried if the conditions were right but the corrosion is minimal for being in soil at least. Environment can play a huge difference--that's what an MS65 coin would look like after just a year or so on my bayside dock! Ok, enough of my blather, lol  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
549 Posts |
Jim - The reverse is better than the obverse, but still severely corroded. I don't even like looking at this coin...so disappointing.  |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,106 |
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Posted 01/25/2008 2:10 pm
