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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,957 |
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
My brother has a booklet of morgans. The original owner used scotch tape to hold them in their slots. Since they have been in there for a very long time the tape has turned yellow, and leaves residue on the coins. Are the coins a complete loss? How does cleaning a silver dollar affect the value? Can anything negative come from cleaning a silver dollar? What should I use to clean them?
- Thank You
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
Joben,  to CCF. Do not clean them until the pros answer your question. I think you can use acetone but don't till the pros say yes or no. John1  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1418 Posts |
Do not clean the coins. They still have value with the tape residue. It's not a complete loss.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
Do not clean them until the pros answer your question. I think you can use acetone but don't till the pros say yes or no. So who are the pros?  Acetone is chemically incapable of doing anything to a Morgan dollar which can be detected by any method, be it the eyes of an "expert" or an electron microscope. Acetone does not react with silver, and that's all there is to it. What it will do, though, is make that tape residue go away. Another thing it will do is burn your house down at the slightest provocation. "Flammable" is far too weak a word to describe the enthusiasm with which acetone will go from zero to conflagration for the slightest reason. It's not that you can't handle it safely - it only requires a little more care for proper ventilation than gasoline - but the important point to be taken here is that acetone is far more dangerous to its' environment than to the coins itself. |
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
Quote:
So who are the pros? You guys know who the pros are  John1 |
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Valued Member
United States
106 Posts |
Acetone is toxic, but not so toxic that the portion of the human race more concerned with appearance than convenience can't use it to remove nail polish. Still, I'd wear rubber gloves while doing this.
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New Member
 United States
5 Posts |
Thanks guys I appreciate the much needed help. So if/when I use acetone, how do I go about the process of getting rid of the tape residue? Should I just soak the coins for a period of time? or scrub them? And what do you mean by "the pros" haha?
I have never cleaned any coin before because I have always been told not to, and never questioned why. I just blindly followed orders of people with far more knowledge on the subject than me. What (if anything) is wrong with cleaning coins?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
you just soak them, do not scrub them at all. if the tape is hard to come off (which it probably wont be) you can soak a cotton swab with the acetone and rub gently over the surface but please use care doing this because if done to hard it can harm the coin as well. The reason you don't clean a coin is because it can leave evidence of the cleaning and will cause damage to the coins surface and it can't be undone. There are allot of people that have damaged very pricey coins and there are some that can do it in a way it doesn't harm the coin at all but it is a general rule of thumb to not even attempt it because if you damage the coin it just about loses all collector interest and just becomes worth bullion value or face value (if a circulating coin)
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Using acetone is strictly a wet method with no friction. Friction is why "cleaning" is considered to be a bad thing, friction on a coin will damage it by leaving light scratches called hairlines. Using wet methods that leave no trace on a coin is known as "conservation." Acetone can be obtained from a beauty supply store(just don't buy a few liters of hydrogen peroxide at the same time  ) or a hardware store. Make sure it is pure acetone with no additives and perform an evaporation test. Pour some acetone in a small glass dish. Once it evaporates, there should be no residue left. Use acetone in a well ventilated area away from any ignition source. A small tumbler glass works well for the soak. Place a coin in the glass and fill with acetone until coin is submerged and then cover to minimize evaporation. You should not need to soak more than five minutes and it can be effective with a soak of less than 30 seconds, adjust your soak time depending on your conditions. After the soak is done, rinse the coin with fresh acetone- this is very important! After the rinse, let the coin air dry on a towel. The acetone should flash off very quickly leaving no residue. Acetone is an organic solvent and is quite flammable but can be handled safely if you take the proper precautions. It is generally not harmful to your skin but you should minimize contact because it will strip the essential oils from your skin, leaving you feeling a bit chapped. Acetone will only remove organic material- finger grease, tape residue, oils, PVC residue, dirts, etc. It will not remove toning or stains and will not harm luster. |
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Moderator
Australia
16826 Posts |
The other thing to consider: if the tape itself has stayed on the coin for a long time, then the parts of the coin not underneath the tape will have oxidized, while the parts protected by the tape may still be nice and shiny. So even if you remove all of the tape, your coins might still have a "stripe" across them where the tape used to be.
I own a couple of coins with just such a "stripe". It's not as attractive as an evenly toned coin, but it sure looks better than a piece of tape residue.
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
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
O.K.-O.K., from now on when I say "pros" I mean "people in the know"  John1
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
Thanks a ton fellas, this really helps a lot. And I'll try to get some pictures of the coins up if I can today, just to show you guys what they look like.
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
Sorry guys, I won't be putting any pictures up. My camera isn't good enough...oh well.
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,957 |
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Posted 10/03/2009 4:29 pm
