Vfox Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 I have a Unc roll of 43-D and 43-S steel cents in part of a collection I am selling for a friend, and decided to buy these two rolls from him. Well, I may change my mind because I took them out today, and most of the coins are covered in gray and white corrosion, the coins are uncs, but over half of them are like this. Does anyone know a way to remove that grime, or is it basically stuck on the coin, and they are basically ruined? I don't really know of any way to combat this sort of corrosion on the zinc plated steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 If you treat them, they are cleaned. This is the lousy part of two metals that were not ever intended to be together on coinage, zinc is absolutely one of the worst metals ever used on coins. My daughter owns a 1943-S in MS-65 that is one of the nicest I have ever seen, but I have lots of miserable ones. My suggestion, leave them be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Yeah, I figured there is little I can do to help them. I've tried cleaning, treating, SCRUBBING! the heck out of some WWI zinc/steel coins to no avail, so I didn't see much hope for these. There are a few nice coins in the rolls, but for the most part they are ruined. I did manage to score a 09-S, 14-D, and 31-S from the collection though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtryka Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 At least it's only oxidation and not rust! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Rust is how most of them appear to be now. There were a couple of dozen in my 5,000 bag, and most of them were rusty. The composition was so ill conceived and not really tried out, that as a result the steel in the cent only lasted during 1943 and cents went back to bronze(allegedly from shell casings, so the propaganda states) I asked my grandmother once about if she had used them, and she remembered disliking them when they came out because they looked so similar to dimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Well, there are half a dozen circ rolls in the box as well, and about 30-40% of those are rusty. They were improperly stored, they have been in this guys basement, in ammo boxes since the early 80's. I'm honestly surprised more are not rusted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtryka Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 I have a roll that spent most of the last 20 years in a safe deposit box and about 20% are rusty, I just think it's the price you pay for coins made of galvanized steel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 It's almost like you have to place them in an inert gel to preserve them, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Cordeiro Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 I have never used there products before, and as a matter of fact, I just got the link today from another post about the same subject. Hope it is of some use to you. Jim. Dirty old coin.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 That may work fine for ancients, but touch a modern coin with that stuff and you may as well spend it for face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Cordeiro Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Oh well, It was a thought. Sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 You might as well test one in a solution of WD-40. That is where I have my counterfeit die soaked in at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 I had one sitting on a reefer magnet on the reefer in the kitchen for about 14-15 years that never managed to corrode. Now it resides in my daughters Whitman folder so I will have to check on it to see if since it is de-magnetized if it is rusting like crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vfox Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Oh well, It was a thought. Sorry I didn't mean that in a bad light, I only meant I wouldn't use that method on a new coin. But I do appreciate your posting of ideas regardless if I can use them or not. Gxseries, I may try the WD-40 thing, it's not like I will be losing anything in doing so, lol. I will try it on one of the none-unc ones first though, just incase it does damage the coin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numismatic nut Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 To get thee oil to work better,you may want to soak them.Also,I would try electrostsctios(SP?).Just put it in a little salt water(witch may be bad for steel) and hook a wire from a 9 volt to the coin,and the other to a peice of metal.I would try on junk first,then the nice ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Cordeiro Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 I didn't mean that in a bad light, I only meant I wouldn't use that method on a new coin. But I do appreciate your posting of ideas regardless if I can use them or not. No, no, I took no offence at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just carl Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 I have 30 rolls of the 1943 cents. Almost all are in some type of MS grade. They are all in those plastic tubes. They've been there a long, long time. No rust, no corrosion, no nothing. Every one looks like it did when I put them there. Those were the first coins I ever collected and many were from when I was a kid in 1943 and they were all brand new. What you have is the Zinc Oxidizing and if you remove this grey looking Oxydation, you may end up exposing the steel below to more Oxydation which is what people call rust. Note the term rust is in reality a form of Oxydation. Zinc, like Aluminum will form a layer of this and then basically stop the Oxydation process. Sort of like natures method of metal protection. This is why they originally processed the coins like this. The Zinc was supposed to preserve the cents forever. One of the problems though turned out to be the electrical charges created by the dissimilar metals touching during deferentiation in temperatures. Such charges are extreamely minor but accelerate Oxydation. Also, many vending machines just don't like magnetic money. I would suggest you do nothing to those coins but place in the plastic rolls. If no air, humidity or excessive temperature changes are present, they will be there for hundreds of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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