Newbie With A Couple Questions Please

Also I tried reading about cleaning coins but there was lots of conflicting information. Any tips or ideas on cleaning would also be appreciated.

Thanks Again!

Not a foolproof way but the plastic with PVC is usually a bit soft and has a slight smell to it.

I had to clean PVC slime off about 300 coints that were kept in a binder containing PVC. This was a heart-breaker since I thought I was doing the right thing storing them that way. If in doubt remove them from the flips and make sure they are in 'mylar' or some other archival safe plastic.

Whenever I get any raw coins, I personally put them into Saflips. While not always the case, there are collecting supplies of questionable quality that come from overseas. Your primary concern with PVC is the plasticizer that is used in the manufacture of them. You will often see people who sell storage supplies specify that something is "plasticizer-free" or "archival quality". Even if the risk is small, I find comfort in knowing that I control the quality of the storage medium, at that point.

I will put them in a "to be processed" box, where I will go over them and determine what I want to do for longer-term storage. Multiple options are available to you, here. Some people are completely happy keeping them in Saflips (or similar), some are happy with 2"x2"s, some prefer Air-Tites, some prefer albums, and some people (myself included) prefer Coin World Premier Slabs. It is also reasonable that people will store coins differently depending on series, type, composition, quality, or value. Depending on where you live (and judging by your name, it is likely not to be a problem), humidity may play a choice in how you choose to store your coins, as well. People will use a silica desiccant (those little packages of silica you find in all sorts of retail packaging) in some form of storage container, on top of what the coins are being stored in. Those can be had quite inexpensively from places like Amazon.

You will want to avoid cleaning your coins at all costs. There are multiple quality topics on this site, though, about proper coin preservation. Done with care, most preservation techniques are safe and do not disturb the actual surface of the coin, but are still with their own caveats. I would recommend searching here for "coin preservation" and you will get a lot of valuable information. The goal with preservation is to prevent continuing damage or corrosion, and is mostly not about the eye appeal. Preservation is not (directly) related to increasing the value of a coin. Just keep in mind that even preservation can go wrong, and when in doubt, you can have the coin professionally conserved if it is worth the cost of doing so.

Considering that it sounds like you may enjoy looking for varieties, I would highly recommend both of the CherryPickers' Guide books. It covers both older varieties, along with newer varieties. Plus, I would be remiss to omit saying that coming here, posting questions, and reading along in the forums is a great way to get acclimated. I am only a fairly new member here, still, but this community is outstanding. Friendly bunch of folks with an immense pool of knowledge. Very little drama, or the like.

to the Community!

I moved your welcome post to the appropriate forum for the proper attention.

Thanks for all the info, and welcomes much appreciated!

Could anyone recommend a good source for storage containers, flips etc? Also I see allot of people use cardboard cut outs stapled together with some sort of plastic? Thanks again!


accordselux thanks for the correction. I actually found a 1964 quarter, 1952 quarter a couple 1964 dimes and 2 quarters with no dates that I was curious about. I will try to post pictures. I have not gone through even half of the coins yet so wanted to do more researching before sorting through the rest.

I was able to post the picture of the quarter with no date below. Can anyone tell me what it is?

BTW I looked again and the coin that I found which I believe was the 40% silver was a 1966 half dollar. I am mostly interested in researching rare dates/mark, errors and other collectible information before continuing to search the coins. There is so much info out there and it looks like what I have found so far is not really collector stuff, just worth a little more due to higher silver content.

Simpler and accurate test for PVC.

1. Cut a piece of the plastic in question. Make sure there is no other material stuck to it like adhesive or cardboard.

2. Submerge that piece of plastic in water. If it floats it 100% can not be PVC. Make sure it isn't an air bubble in or under the part floating it. Make sure you break the surface tension of the water by submerging it and shaking it around to shake off any air. Again if it floats, it can not be PVC / vinyl and you are done.

3. If it sinks, it may be PVC. We need to test it further.

4. Safety first

5. Light that sample on fire. PVC will not drip. PVC will produce a white smoke. PVC will char to black. PVC will give off hydrochloric acid which is an offensive smell. PVC will give off a green tint flame. The green is minimal though.

Here is a handy flowchart on how to identify all major plastics using just a cup of water and some fire. Not my chart, but it is accurate and handy.

http://www.consultekusa.com/pdf/Tec...chart%20.pdf

That dateless quarter is a Standing Liberty quarter.

http://www.coincommunity.com/us_qua..._liberty.asp

They were made from 1916 to 1930.

The 1916 and some 1917's had a bare breasted woman on the front / obverse. They also have no stars under the eagle, so yours isn't one of those.

The dates on these wore off early so they later sunk the date down so they wouldn't become dateless with wear. I think 1925 is the year they sank the date down deeper into the coin.

Yours is likely 1917 - 1924. Probably worth $3 without a date like that based on silver value.

As a start check out any hobby stores or coin stores in your area. Go to one and purchase what is called a Red Book by Whitman Publishing. Great book for looking up stuff.
Then too try finding out if there are any coin shows in your area. If so, go to a few and just roam around asking questions. Also, at a coin show, hobby or coin store, you may want to purchase some plastic rolls and some cardboard flips to store coins in. I like Albums so I also suggest if and when you accumulate a large amount of one type of coin you buy an Album to put them in. Many places sell such Albums.
Also, note in that Red Book it discusses the numerous types or error coins. There are a large variety of different types of coin collectors and error collecting is one example.
As you look through your coins and if you have any questions just post them here.