Zinc Coins - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 2,029
antwerpen2306 Pillar of the Community Belgium 1194 Posts	Posted 01/10/2015 2:53 pm how can I clean zinc coins ? I have a lot from the first and second world war from France, Germany and Belgium , and many look like the pics .Have I to clean or is it a metal disease ? Albert Report this Post to the Staff

BadThad Bedrock of the Community United States 19949 Posts	Posted 01/10/2015 3:53 pm I don't care for the term "disease" for coins, more accurately, what you have is metallic corrosion. Chances are removal of this corrosive layer will result in an undesirable, obviously-cleaned, pitted coin. Zinc oxides are difficult to remove, it would probably require acid which damages the surfaces. At this point, I think you have two choices: 1) Rinse with acetone (removes all moisture) and put into holder. 2) Buy a non-corroded replacement. Lincoln Cent Lover! VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/ Report this Post to the Staff
sel_69l Bedrock of the Community Australia 21786 Posts	Posted 01/10/2015 4:13 pm Don't try to clean zinc coins under any circumstances. Just do your best to try to preserve what you have with good storage. Zinc is a sacrificial metal, used to protect other metals. Report this Post to the Staff
antwerpen2306 Pillar of the Community Belgium 1194 Posts	Posted 01/11/2015 09:46 am thanks , I found these coins in the basement in a cotton bag and will them pack separately .Albert Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16827 Posts	Posted 01/11/2015 4:53 pm Zinc is a terrible metal to make coins from, because it corrodes so easily - just about any environment will corrode them. Water, humid air, polluted air, buried in acidic soil, buried in alkaline soil, all these will accelerate the already bad corrosion rate of zinc. The only reason they used zinc during WWII was that all the other alternative metals were either being hoarded or were needed for the war effort. What the coins might look like in 70 years time was not high on their list of priorities. Your coins are indeed corroded, and there's nothing that can really be done. You can't un-corrode metal. You can remove the corrosion that's there, but as BadThad said, anything powerful enough to remove the corrosion will start to attack the underlying metal as well, making the corrosion worse. On the bright side, if you happen to find one that somehow avoided becoming corroded, you might have a valuable coin. 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 Report this Post to the Staff
sel_69l Bedrock of the Community Australia 21786 Posts	Posted 01/11/2015 5:47 pm If you have ANY zinc coin in pristine condition that is more than 50 years old, you have a rare coin. Report this Post to the Staff
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