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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,845 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
 I was talking about albums before... the one above I have had for 25 years now and it is still holding up well. You see it has pages and into those slip strips containing 2 rows of coins which go into long horizontal pockets. This albom is good for multiple reasons: the coins cannot escape, the pages seem sturdy and dont droop and air doesn't flow freely around the coins.  Being unable to get that kind of album I bought a couple of these other ones for my world coins and my US coins. They have pages with pockets the coins slip straight into. As you can see the weight of the coins makes the pages droop, also if turned upside down they fall out. Air can also get to the edges of the coins quite easily. The first album I open up a lot, I am always looking at British coins, checking what I have and what I need...adding coins and removing them. The second album tends to sit mainly on the shelf I have opened it very few times in the last 10 years. Today I opened it and I did not like what I found. Many of the coins in this album have green around the edges, a few have verdigris on their faces too. It still appears quite light and not on every coin. I have never had a verdigris problem before (I thought it only happened if they were sitting in jars) how quickly will this escalate? I don't have any verdicare, if I remove the coins I don't have another album to put them in yet...will there be lasting damage done here? I havent had much luck recently...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1801 Posts |
Do you have verdigis or do you have PVC slime? Take out a few coins and soak them in acetone, then rinse with distilled water and then air dry (I use a hair dryer) and see if it comes off. If what you have is PVC slime, it will come off. Many of that style older album used PVC for the plastic so the page would stay soft.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
 more likely slime than verdigris..PVC gasses out and does this. Edited by amida17
07/20/2012 11:03 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
7096 Posts |
If you are going to get some new albums anyway, Make sure they are non PVC. I have most of my coins in 2x2's in non PVC albums which gives them double protection  I do have a heap of coins in folders and am in the process of transferring them into 2x2 folders. It is a pretty big job but will be worth it in the long run |
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
OK well...I figured the first step was to buy new albums anyway and I managed to find lighthouse numis albums on ebay that looked up to the job but I wasn't please to spend £50 on plastic (could have bought a banknote with that grrr!) They are quite possibly PVC (maybe thats why they sag so much under the weight) maybe the majority are slime and it is only one or two which have any verdigris (maybe that had started before I put them in, but a couple of the French coins looked verdis) some of my spanish I remember hd massive luster before they went in there, maybe if the slime is removed they will come back... Anyway Albums are on there way and I will think about trying your suggestions once they arrive. Where does one purchase acetone? Will it effect patina? (its a mixed bag those coins but some are 1800's copper there are some belgium zinc coins, brass, silver and cupro-nickel, german nazi ones maybe zinc and lots of french ones) Thanks for the advice :) I guess all is not lost... Edited by DavidUK
07/20/2012 11:49 pm
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Moderator
 United States
188213 Posts |
Use only pure acetone, buy it in a hardware store in the paint section. Acetone will not affect patina. Before you start, read this thread... https://goccf.com/t/98298 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
OK so I will receive my albums in the post and then I will go to a hardware store and buy acetone. I read that thread, I see I must get pure acetone.
Anything else I should buy? I only have standard household items...no laboratory beakers and such...I have about 200 coins to rehome in a new album.
I was thinking I could maybe use a plastic basket to place the coins in then dip them in a large glass of acetone. The plastic basket came from goddards silver dip (I will clean it thouroughly and test that it doesn't melt)
I will do it in a ventilated area...
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Acetone will melt most plastics. That plastic basket you mentioned may or may not just vanish in the Acetone. Best to just use all glass items. And not ones that are dicorated since the Acetone may do some damage to those too.
I suggest prior to using Acetone at all, go to the Search tab and type in Acetoine, coin cleaning, cleaning coins, etc. There are and have been many posts about this subject.
Make sure you do use a well ventilated area and if you do use a hair dryer to dry the coins, remember that those are electric usually and turning them on creates a spark. So make sure your in an open area that is well ventilated.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
OK well if plastic will dissolve I am thinking how to get 200 coins in and out of the ammonia in a sensible way...
I could use an ultrasonic cleaning machine (I can borrow that from a friend) would this do any harm?
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2180 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
OK my albums arrived, and since numis albums are smaller than I imagined I got mainly the wrong size pages and had to order more... SO new albums cost me $65...
I rang the supplier who I got my previous albums from (its a telephone and mail order coin company based in England) they said "This is the first complaint that we have had about PVC slime... its a known problem so our supplier uses the correct plastic" I left instructions for them to ask questions to the supplier including "will my bank notes be OK?" (because I bought albums for those from this complany alo and the 3 pocket pages seem OK but the 2 pocket pages could be made from the same plastic as the coin albums.
Anyway... next I went in search of acetone... hardware shops were all stocking white spirits and meths but not acetone...so then onto the chemists...the fourth one I visited had some and there was no ingredients list so I took a chance that it was pure acetone with no additives.
I was going to dip the coins, but the bottle they sold me was very small and I decided I would just apply with cottom wool. Yes I know you arent supposed to rub coins but these are circulated coins and cotton wool is pretty soft so I don't think I will rub a grade off the coins.
Just a gentle rub and most of the green ended up on the cotton wool... the coins looked better but unless my memory plays tricks with me I think they have lost the luster that they had when they first were put into those albums.
5-6 coins the green wouldnt move, it was more of a chalky type of green...verdigris.
I ordered verdicare, probably not worth it for just the few coins infected (they arent expensive coins) the verdicare and a lintless cloth came to $20 but another $40 to ship to England :( I also ordered more pages of the correct size ($15)
So all in all this has been a big waste of money really to rehouse some coins which are not particularly rare or special and that I hardly ever look at.
Obviously I am not happy that the albums turned my coins bad, if I was to go into manufacturing albums to preserve coins the first question I would ask is "what material should I make them out of that will keep the coins preserved"
All in all a bit of an annoyance really... I could have spent that money on a nice note or a few silver coins.
Edited by DavidUK
07/24/2012 2:34 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19945 Posts |
Let me clear something up...
PVC damage on copper produces VERDIGRIS. The hydrochloric acid in the degraded PVC reacts with copper to form copper chloride.
If you cannot tell the difference from PVC catylized verdigris and regular verdigris, acetone is a good, safe start. However, acetone will NOT remove verdigris since it is primarily composed of inorganic salts.
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,845 |
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Posted 07/20/2012 11:02 pm
