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 Replies: 22 / Views: 6,531 |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
Hello, I was hoping someone might know how to help me. A couple of years ago my husband and I had a house fire. My coin collection thankfully survived but unfortunately there is a lot of soot deposited on the coins. When I started collecting my Father always stressed to me to never clean a coin but I really don't want to leave them in this condition. None of them are very valuable but I collected a lot of them with my Father and they mean a lot to me. Is there any acceptable way to restore them without damaging them?
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
I'm sorry to hear you had a house fire. Great nobody was hurt and glad you came here BEFORE you cleaned your coins.I would start at the least harmful stage. Get a large folding table and some large bowls with distilled water. Don't rub them to get off the "soot".
Go through each bowl holding each coin by the edges and lay them on paper towels. Flip them over when the one side is dry. Let the other side dry. This would be good to do in a sunny room.
Chances are you'll reduce the amount of real problem coins leftover.
Put the satisfactory coins in safe holders. We can work on the problem coins next round.
Edited by TNG
06/07/2021 12:02 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
Oops, jbuck beat me to it while I was typing but checking his link tells me my advice is OK for starters. Good luck.
How bout some pictures of your problem?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Agree, pics might help.  to the CCF! |
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New Member
 United States
6 Posts |
I'm at work at the moment but when I get home I will take some pictures. It will be tomorrow before I can post them though. I live way out in the country on a farm and don't have decent internet service.
Also, thank you everyone for your help. I had been putting off dealing with this for years because I was unsure how to proceed but recently a co-worker gave me an entire coin collection of a member of her family that had passed away. It has really gotten my husband and son interested in the hobby and has spurred me to finally do something about my old collection.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
To CCF , If it's an oily type of soot I wouldn't bother with distilled water . I would soak them in Acetone anywhere from 1 hour to 1 day for best results . This method would not harm the coins at all . When they are done make sure they are completely dry and then holder them .  |
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Moderator
United States
34396 Posts |
@dee, first welcome to CCF. Second, I am very sad to hear of your housefire, but am very glad that the damage was only to things. Finally, I agree with the advice above, but am especially interested to see if any of the clad coins show internal bulging such as can be seen on the quarter in the thread that was posted almost at the same time as yours here: http://goccf.com/t/401986If you find such a thing, please post pics for us to help confirm that this can be due to high heat. Thx! "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19120 Posts |
Yes, would like to see some photos. Thanks.
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
Thank you all for the warm welcome!
I hadn't noticed any bulges but then again I wasn't really looking for them. I am an amateur coin collector at best. I will certainly be looking for them when I get home tonight.
We were lucky with the fire. I didn't burn the entire house down. It just took out the kitchen. Old wiring did it. That is the down side to living in an older home. The farm has been in my husband's family since 1812. One cool thing that came out of it though is that while repairing the home we found a confederate bill in the wall. Unfortunately someone had stuck it between two pieces of tape to "preserve" it.
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Moderator
United States
94892 Posts |
to CCF! Distilled water bath to get loose surface soot off, then as needed Acetone bath to remove any sticky or oily residue afterward. Just be sure to use pure acetone from a hardware store, NOT nail polish remover as that has impurities in it. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
Fire coins are difficult to impossible to conserve. I've had my go at many over the years. First thing, make sure NONE of them are valuable key or semi-key dates. Set those aside if you have any!
Put all the non-valuable coins into a colander and using running hot water to see if you remove anything. If isn't working, add some liquid dish soap, mix them around with your hands under running hot water with the soap. Hopefully, the soot is light enough to come off.
It's a waste of time and resources to do much else to a bunch of common coins. Only those that have any decent value should be brought through a "normal" conservation process.
GOOD LUCK
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Moderator
United States
94892 Posts |
The value of these coins are not in the rarity but rather in a personal connection. According to the OP DeesyDoo the value of each coin is attached to their Father and I'm guessing the memories they bring back. Quote:
None of them are very valuable but I collected a lot of them with my Father and they mean a lot to me. I would not just pour the less valuable coins into a colander ands wish them around. One at a time is how I would go about it. |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19120 Posts |
Given the photos, I think the coins did rather well under difficult circumstances.
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Moderator
United States
94892 Posts |
Quote:
Given the photos, I think the coins did rather well under difficult circumstances. I can agree with that. |
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Replies: 22 / Views: 6,531 |
Posted 06/07/2021 12:00 pm
