Expert: PAPAJACK - 7/2/2008

Question
Expert: PAPAJACK
Date: 6/22/2008
Subject: flood contaminated coins

Regarding your response to the above inqiry:

OOPS!!  I was told to bleach my coins recovered from the Cedar Rapids flood, so I did it. What should I do now?  These were my mother's coins.  Many of them have turned black.  I had no idea that I would be harming them.  We have been told to sanitize everything that the flood water touched.  Please advise....

Answer
Hello Mary,                           

There are many, many opinions on this subject.  
All say that a cleaned coin is worth less than an original dirty coin.
That in my opinion is up to the buyer of the coin.

I do not clean coins and do not recommend it in most cases.  I tend not to buy cleaned coins as well.

There are collectors, who specialize in cleaning coins, and there are number of online discussion groups that deal solely with this, collectors can still clean their coins -- it's just more risky.

Still, there's nothing preventing anybody from gaining the expertise to do it right. The advice most frequently given by experts is to start with inexpensive coins, and as with cleaning any coins, to start with the most gentle technique and stop before you think you need to. The library of the American Numismatic Association includes books on coin cleaning.

If any of the coins you possess are truly rare or valuable please send them to a reputable conservator for a museum quality restoration.
See http://www.ncscoin.com  
Their service at NCS PROFESSIONAL CONSERVATION SERVICES range from $5 for the consultation of what they can do for the coin. And the CONSERVATION on a coin is a $15 dollar minimum to $75 dollars per coin.

If it is just you average common date and mint mark coins from circulation channels read on.

There is so much written on the subject it is hard to summarize it for you.  Since the closest condition I cols find to sunken/flooded coins is cleaning of coins found buried in the earth whether metal detecting or an archeological dig.  Only try any of the methods talked about on low value coins one at a time to test each method.

They use every thing from Olive Oil to vinegar and even WD-40.
http://www.coinworld.com/news/062507/bw_0625.asp

Good Luck  

PapaJack