Mineral Oil And Acetone?

If your looking for a "coating" maybe Verdi-Care is the way to go? Where are you BadThade?
John1

In the 1960's I bought a huge toolbox full of tools from a mechanic, but he had hauled them around for a long time in the damp trunk of his car, so they were very rusty, even the chromed wrenches. I cleaned them up with steel wool but in just a few days they were showing rust again.

So I gave them an overnight soak in oil, a few at a time - either straight motor oil or more likely, motor oil and mineral spirits. Anyway, then I wiped off the excess oil residue and after 50 years they still look good.

Metal can be more porous than we might think. And acetone is an excellent solvent, removing oils but probably leaving metals a bit "exposed" for lack of a better word. While we like to think of our coins as being clean, perhaps it is possible for them to be too clean, just like my old box of tools. There are things as innocent as oxygen and as harmful as sulphur compounds in the air, and while 2x2's, albums, and our other storage methods help a great deal to protect our coins, I doubt if it would hurt to have a protective barrier on the surface of a coin.

I recently bought some 1840's era brass political tokens from Heritage, apparently from an old collection since almost all of them were lacquered long ago. Somehow, one of those tokens ended up with lacquer on the obverse only. Despite being in a collector's care, the reverse ended up noticeably darker and with one prominent spot on it, proof that the lacquer protected one side of the token.

I'd investigate Verdi-Care for copper coins.

-Duncan

One problem is not all Mineral Oils are the same. Just as not all motor oils, Olive Oils, etc are not the same. People just don't understand that with almost anything, just because the name is the same, the item may be excessively different. Even tap water could have thousands of different types. Ome Mineral Oil may not hurt a coin, some others may do some damage. Some may coat and some may not. Best not to use anything on a coin you do not REALLY know what it is or what is in it.

The Verdi care would be great. I like an old product called Blue Ribbon it I believe had mineral oil in its make up. Just make sure you don't leave copious amounts of oil on the surface of the coin. I gently use a q tip to remove access being very careful not to scratch or damage the coin. I'm just a guy who likes Indian Head cents and I don't have high end stuff but some nice circulated and lower end uncs. Hope this helps have a Blessed Day.

NEVER use oil on coins, especially on mint state ones....end of story.