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 Replies: 21 / Views: 3,384 |
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Valued Member
United States
240 Posts |
I recentally purchased around 100 in Buffalo nickels. However when they arrived they are all covered in this clay stuff and some of them have green mold growing on them (every other). I payed .25 a piece for these. How do I get rid of this crap. I have tried so many different things even washing them individually. And I don't care about "cleaning coins" these need to be cleaned as if one picks even one of them up there fingers will have green dust on them. Thanks, Left |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
607 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Go to any paint supply store. Walmart, Kmart, Ace Hardware, etc. Purchase a can, usually in quarts, of Acetone. Also, purchase some Distilled water. Prior to doing that though, do a search on this forum, top search tab, for things like cleaning coins, Acetone, coin cleaning, etc. First be carefull with Acetone. It is highly flamable. Soak your coins in this for about a little while. Use only glass jars or containers to do this. Then do the same with the distilled water. Again, do that search on this web site for all the things to know about Acetone. |
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Moderator
 United States
16679 Posts |
Yes, do not put acetone in plastic bowls or containers.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
United States
624 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8516 Posts |
They really should make an acetone sticky thread.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Moderator
Australia
16826 Posts |
Acetone won't do a thing for "green dust" - that sounds like corrosion. And if the "clay" is actually clay, then soapy water and a soft toothbrush ought to get it off. If it doesn't get it off, then it too is corrosion.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19947 Posts |
The green is verdigris, not mold. The coins are corroded. Not sure about the "clay", post some pictures.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3079 Posts |
Have 6 Ikes that were stacked one on top of each other with some form of adhesive to hold them together. When frozen over night the coins popped apart, due to old adhesive and the different expansion rates of the items.  Here are what they started life out with the adhesive that didn't come off when frozen.  This is my acetone can ( cat food tin with matching safety open lid. So far a lot has come off, the two in the can have been in since 1pm this afternoon. I will leave them in overnight. And see if that helps, soften the adhesive. since it is very old. can't hurt the value since the lowest it can go is 6 bucks, and that is twice what I paid for the stack.  Anybody have any other suggestion for conserving these coins? Thanks for the input. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19947 Posts |
Follow the solvent polarity ladder. Soak for 24 hours in the following solvent in this order:
1) distilled water
2) acetone
3) xylene
At the end of each soaking stage, keep the coin under fluid and try prodding the residue with a toothpick to see it will come off.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
624 Posts |
BadThad... what does the variation in soaking material do? I'm not sure what would be accoplished by a soak in distilled water (other than to remove Acetone and Xylene)...
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Try distilled water first. If that works, you are done.
If not, try acetone. If that works, you are done.
If not, try xylene. If that works, you are done.
If not, you are still done, because anything else you try will ruin the coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
624 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1536 Posts |
That green "mold" I think is most likely PVC damage and it can be taken off with acetone. I generally don't just wash coins but like you said these were cheap. You can lightly use a q-tip on them I would soak in acetone and distilled water.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1536 Posts |
As far as what to start with I don't think it matters with nickel since it is much more sturdier and not volatile like copper. I switch back and forth but usually like to rinse with distilled water because I don't like leaving chemicals on coins. For a long soak, I usually use distilled water. I am soaking some cruddy V nickels now because I can't see how much "LIBERTY" is there. Edited by buddy16cat
04/19/2013 03:50 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3079 Posts |
Here are the Ikes, after soaking in the acetone bath for 36 hours, staining of both sides were the adhesive was.  |
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Replies: 21 / Views: 3,384 |
Posted 04/13/2013 7:52 pm
