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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,705 |
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Valued Member
Canada
287 Posts |
I have kept coins for many years, but just started to put them in sets and catalog them. So I have been buying all the current coins set each year for some time now. I don't know if I am being over paranoid but when I get circulation coins from change or when they have not come sealed in some sort of package I wash them. I wash them in water and mild dish washing liquid then rinse them in clear water then pat dry. I then put them in staple type 2x2's. Is this being over paranoid of what finger prints can possibly do to coins over time?  . I then seal the sides of the 2x2 with invisible tape and put them in binder type sheets. From 1970 to current I am trying to get a Proof, Specimen, Circulated sample of each coin.(gettin there) Prior to 1970 I just have singles of most coins. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4846 Posts |
TRUST me, washing them is 100000 times worse than finger prints, ESPICALLY wish dish washing soap
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Valued Member
 Canada
287 Posts |
So you just put them in the 2x2's as is
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4846 Posts |
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Valued Member
Canada
287 Posts |
Thanks for the advice I appreciate it
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Valued Member
United States
273 Posts |
Agreed. Don't wash the coins at all. Just avoid adding more fingerprints to them. Only touch your coins by the edges.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
693 Posts |
They are your coins......do as you wish.........:-)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
I would be worried more about what is gassing off from the tape you are using as it slowly decays and what it might do to your coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
A short soak in acetone followed by a rinse in distilled water should take care of any fresh prints you may have. As for old ones, well, they are there to stay as far as I know.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
650 Posts |
I would be concerned about the tape as well.
I just started to clean up a Lincoln set I have had for years. The plastic pages they were kept in was bad and they have gone gummy and sticky green stuff on them.
I am soaking them in olive oil to be followed by a soap and water bath then to be followed by a acetone bath. Close to 100 PCs to try and salvage , lucky fo me I was missing a lot of keys.
Good luck with yours, don't think finger prints are going to be any better if they are there for a while.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1051 Posts |
Washing in a gentle soap solution won't hurt anything, so long as you don't rub the coin while washing or drying. Acetone will also not hurt coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
629 Posts |
I think that everyone has cleaned a coin from time to time. Each of us has our own way of lightly cleaning the surface to remove some contaminent that we feel distracts from the coin. I have used a cue tip swab that is dipped in alcohol and then dried with a towel or kleenix by dabbing it, no rubbing. To prevent your fingerprints always grip it from the sides as suggested before. We all know what a cleaned coin looks like and they usually come from a novice or untrained person looking to make something shiny to increase value and we all know that it doesn't. So experiment with coins that don't have much value. Nickels are the most forgiving then silver and lastly copper in my experience. But if the coin looks good, why clean, just put it in your 2x2 and add it to your collection. If you like most of us, we buy what looks good and we all have duplicates of good looking coins.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,705 |
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Posted 11/18/2010 9:55 pm
