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 Replies: 8 / Views: 6,446 |
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Valued Member
United States
57 Posts |
I'm still getting back into a hobby that I took pretty seriously for 20 years before life took over for a while :) When I was young, collecting various copper, clad and silver, I used to experiment (as most kids do perhaps) with various kinds of cleaning, buffing of coins. Needless to say, there are some horrific victims of such experimentation in my collection! In fact, only one thing actually seemed to work nicely - I got in the habit of waxing and buffing some clad coins. Nothing crazy, mind you - Jefferson nickels, Washington quarters, Kennedy halves, all clad, and only the modern pieces. Using regular car wax that my dad and I would use to wax the car on weekends. They would come out of the treatment looking a bit shinier with a bit richer luster, but with no discernible detail loss or damage to the surface. I remember paranoia over verifying this by looking at what the buffing, etc., did to the steps on Monticello, etc., to confirm that I wasn't destroying the coins. Probably a couple hundred underwent this treatment, while hundreds others did not, and all of them ended up loose in boxes (labeled waxed or not) or in various Whitman push-in folders as well as albums of varying condition, where there too I'd indicate the waxed ones with a little sticker gold star. Well fast forward 15 or so years and I'm going back through a lot of these folders which were basically kept in outdoor storage areas in cardboard boxes and, as you can imagine, subject to all manner of temperature and humidity fluctuations. A lot of the coins don't look so good, and a few of the albums are even a bit moldy. But - the waxed coins are perfect. The others range from perfect to toned/discolored to somewhat damaged. It got me thinking, are there 2010 techniques or recommendations to somehow apply protective coats to modern coins (clad coins in particular) to provide an extra layer of protection above and beyond whatever container(s) they may reside in? (Note - I would never advocate doing such a thing with valuable, rare coins.) Edited by swiego
11/13/2010 6:47 pm
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Valued Member
United States
188 Posts |
AS far as I am concerned, old school is the right school. Throw them in a 2x2, an album (stay away from the folders), or the plastic coin tubes and you will be good to go! If you store them in a closed container, you can throw in some dessicant to help with humidity control.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
591 Posts |
Well the waxed coins may look perfect but look what that does to the value.
I mean would that not make them cleaned/damaged?
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
They don't wax cars to stop paint oxidising for nothing! UV light, which is a component of sunlight will degrade car paint, so it looses it's shine.
The same thing has happened to your coins. However, because I do not understand all of the chemistry of car waxes, I would not recommend them for coin preservation. Nevertheless, wax is a major component of good quality car waxes.
I own an old W116 450 SEL 6.9 litre Mercedes and you would rightly expect me to be a member of some car Forums. I have quite a few posts on the subject of car detailing. Google the 'topklasse' Forum, and look for my avatar at the beginning of my posts, and you will come across a picture of my car. I also use sel_69l as my ID on this Forum.
In another string on the CCF Forum, I mention that I rub paraffin wax on zinc iron and tin coins. Paraffin wax is a pure wax and not a mixture of components, while car waxes are. Ancient coins are preserved and restored especially copper ones, with the extended use of olive oil.
Edited by sel_69l
11/13/2010 10:59 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3592 Posts |
I'd like to see what would happen if a waxed coin were sent in to a TPG. Especially using a spray on wax that didn't have abrasives.Think they would detect it ? |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Oddly enough if your car was Red you would notice if outdoors a lot, it becomes almost impossible to match the color if you want to touch up something. Also, the top of the car, hood, trunk is now different than the sides in tone regardless of how many coats or types of waxes you use. Auto wax just doesn't stop paint from fading. Auto wax manufacturers use as many silly statements on their products as used car salespeople. (Can't say salesmen nowadays you know) As to preservation of coins for long terms, try this:  Or this:  At flea markets and sometimes at shopping malls people use coins to demonstrate how their auto or household waxes work. They do make coins shine and they do place a coating on them that will, maybe, make them last longer. Eventually it will have to come off or it will just not be worth much when full of waxes. |
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Valued Member
United States
455 Posts |
Yes, I think they would notice if wax had been applied, even if it were a spray on type. Even though the spray on wouldn't abrade the coin, it still is affecting the surface of it with the added chemicals. I think they would body bag it, but it would be kind of neat to see if by some small miracle that the coin would pass!
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
I grew up with the old school coin dealers from the '60's.If it ain't broke,Don't fix it.Some of the techniques of the '70's absolutely ruined condition.QUESTION? Anyone have an opinion as to removing coins in lucite?I have the oportunity to puchase some beautifully toned set of coins.PROBLEM!The lucite container is a toilet seat!
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Moderator
 Australia
16810 Posts |
Quote:
...are there 2010 techniques or recommendations to somehow apply protective coats to modern coins (clad coins in particular) to provide an extra layer of protection above and beyond whatever container(s) they may reside in? Modern coin holders basically do the same job as the wax on your coins did - prevent air and moisture from getting to the bright shiny surface of the coins. Waxing a coin and then putting it into a modern coin holder would be somewhat redundant. Most collectors would do one or the other, but not both. And yes, some collectors still do wax their coins. Ancients collectors, in particular, often don't like modern coin holders and such, or ancient coins simply don't fit into a standard coin holder because of their odd shape or ultra-high relief. "Renaissance Wax" (often abbreviated "ren wax") is a modern wax formulation specifically designed for coins and other metallic antiques. Quote:
Well the waxed coins may look perfect but look what that does to the value.
I mean would that not make them cleaned/damaged? Not at all. Wax should be easily removed with a solvent, such as acetone or xylene (which solvent would work best depends on exactly what the "wax" was made of). Quote:I'd like to see what would happen if a waxed coin were sent in to a TPG. Especially using a spray on wax that didn't have abrasives.Think they would detect it ? I'm sure they'd detect it - waxed coins have a very distinctive appearance, quite different to bare metal lustre. But I don't think they'd penalize the coin for having it, since it isn't actually damage to the coin. Wax removal would be a typical NCS service, but why pay NCS for dunking your coin in solvent when you could do it just as easily, for much less cost? The coin may have acquired a strange toning due to compounds contained in the wax, which might cause the TPG to reject it. But it wouldn't reject it just for being waxed. Quote:
Anyone have an opinion as to removing coins in lucite? Lucite, also known as polymethylmethacrylate, acrylic glass, or perspex, is a thermoplastic so you could get the coins out simply by melting it (PMMA melts at 160 to 165 degrees celsius). Alternatively, you could try dissolving it in solvent (but you'd need an awful lot of solvent to depolymerize a large chunk of it) or simply smashing it into pieces; a layer of coins would form a flaw within the material that should break relatively cleanly. 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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Replies: 8 / Views: 6,446 |
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Posted 11/13/2010 9:18 pm
