Expert: Joe Hylas - 12/27/2006

Question
as a kid my uncle tried to get me involved in collecting and one of the things I remember him doing was coating his pennies with a protective liquid. to this day I have never been able to find out what the coating is. He has since passed away and I have found several mint sets and single coins from the fifties with the pennies coated. Are you or any of your colleagues familiar with this practice and what if anything I can do to remove the coating without damaging the coins or lessening the value of the coins? The coating is semi tacky and if you leave the coin on any surface for a short period of time it will stick to it. If two or more of the pennies are left together sometimes they are very difficult to separate

Answer
Hi Kevin,
That was a very old practice.  Even before my time!
From what I remember reading, collectors often coated the copper coins with shellac to preserve the red color of newly inted copper.
That practice has stopped.  The tackiness is probably from the shellac breaking down over the years.  You may want to try taking one coins and submerging it in acetone to disolve the shellac.  Do not rub the coins or use any abrasive, rinse the coins and then pat them dry.

Good Luck!

Regards
Joe Hylas