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 Replies: 29 / Views: 4,890 |
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Valued Member
United States
137 Posts |
A couple of years ago, a distant cousin asked me to dispose of a huge coin find. He knocked down a house and came up with six ammo boxes full of coins. I wrote about it in American Digger Magazine. What a trip!
One of the boxes leaked. It had some copper coins, lots of silver nickels (which cleaned up fine) and some other odds and ends. The rest of it is gone, but I ended up with 300 to 500 steel cents that had rusted. I'm looking for ideas on what to do with them. I thought about scattering them on the beach, for metal detector guys to find. I could spend them, but first I'd have to pry them apart. (Some of them are rusted into stacks.) Maybe art work?
Anyway, toss out some ideas for me.
(You can see my article on my website wgleslie.com/writing)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3644 Posts |
Great story thanks for sharing!
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Rest in Peace
10197 Posts |
Sounds like my wife's friend. Her old ranch house burned down years ago, inside were 3 mason jars of steelies, they all melted into slag. Fooling some diggers may be fun! You could put up a chair and watch them go at it!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
593 Posts |
That was like what happened when my Dads cafe, lounge burnt down in the early 60`s. The pinball machines were full of nickels and were in big globs of Buffalos and Jeffs. I was able to get some good buffalos, but took them to the bank for exchange. I also found a 91CC Morgan that slid between a crack in counter and never melted. It was wore to vg a pocket piece, but cool.
Right timing as the Wa state was going to buy out to widen hwy to 4 lanes
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4211 Posts |
Neat story indeed!
I vote for re planting them for future detectors to find.
I am at a loss of anything else to do with them.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
This is just a crazy idea ,but what if you soaked in a solvent that car repair shops use to soak their rusted engine parts . At first I thought of WD-40 but I believe that only comes in a spray .  |
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Valued Member
United States
111 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
430 Posts |
Thanks for the interesting read to start my week off with a little excitement.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12822 Posts |
Fun! I'll bet that was a trip to go through all those coins.  Maybe try naval jelly on the rusted stack? Or, I like your "artwork" idea. That could be interesting... |
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Valued Member
United States
256 Posts |
I agree with T bop....try evapo rust or similar product. Its non corrosive and dissolves rust
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3463 Posts |
For severely corroded Steel cents only, you can use a mixture of white vinegar and Hydrogen peroxide. This will remove the rust, but the pitting created by the corrosion will remain. This method shouldn't be used on a collectable coin at all.
It will clean them up nicely, but the collector value will be just as gone as it was before cleaning.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
It will clean them up nicely, but the collector value will be just as gone as it was before cleaning. Yes but spendable value might come back, which is currently gone in rusted together stacks. |
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Valued Member
 United States
137 Posts |
I will try to clean a few of them, and post before and after pictures. Stay tuned. In answer to the question, man, it was a blast. I came home from work just pumped for weeks, knowing I could spend my time digging through stacks of coins.
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Moderator
 United States
188342 Posts |
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Yes but spendable value might come back, which is currently gone in rusted together stacks. Agreed. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
827 Posts |
Just FYI wd-40 does come in
a gallon jug. Try your local professional parts house.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
A long, long time ago my wife buried a pile of pennies in a sack next to a tree somewhere on the farm where she used to live. This was a long, long time ago. We went back there many times but due to new owners changing things, we couldn't find the tree. If those are still there, I'd bet they looked like a pile of just metal.
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Replies: 29 / Views: 4,890 |
Posted 02/27/2017 12:10 am
