Adventures in Cleaning Two Silver Dollars!

teotwawki12

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Yesterday, I wrote about a trip to a mid-century dump, during which I found an old melted purse which contained a 1901 "V" Nickel and a 1904 Morgan Dollar. Not far away, buried in with the trash, I found a 1926 Peace Dollar. They were obviously pretty corroded and I imagine they were exposed to a fire.
 

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Now, if you are a real coin guy or gal, this might not be something you want to read as I continue. This is not a tutorial. I have a history of really going overboard cleaning things. But these dollars are not key dates, the look quite rough, and most importantly.....they are mine! :lol:

This was what they looked like after simply using a toothbrush, water, and dish soap. (Except the nickel, which I gave a good rub with a green Scotch pad..)
 

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Today, after receiving some suggestions, I decided to start with Acetone (which I gather shouldn't harm the metal and should be relatively gentle). Went to Menards, bought a can for six bucks, and gave 'em a bath.

After a half hour, there was no change at all. No change in the color of the liquid. Maybe it would work if I was patient, but I didn't care to leave them in overnight. So I decided to try something else.
 

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I decide the Peace Dollar, as the more corroded of the two, was going into the electrolysis bath....
 

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You're getting there. Since they were in rough shape I wouldn't be concerned with hurting them. Using baking soda and water slurry then rubbing them wouldn't hurt.

Steve
 
While the peace dollar cooked, I decided to try the foil/baking soda/boiling water gentler process on the Morgan.
 

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I went back to the electrolysis tank and pulled that one out after about a half hour. Definitely showing progress! So back she went, figured I check again in another half hour....
 

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And after a bit, checked on the Morgan in the baking soda/foil/water. Absolutely no reaction going on. I believe I read somewhere that this only works on the black tarnish, and I think I'd agree. Aborted this one for something else.
 

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Getting a little more aggressive, it was time for toothpaste and thumbs. Gave it a while and made a little progress, but not a ton.

So I got even more aggressive and made baking soda paste and rubbed her real good with my thumbs. More progress on the high points, but still a long way to go...
 

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In the meantime, I went back to the electrolysis tub and realized that it had shut off. No bubbling. Thing was still plugged in and it's a manual charger, so I'm not sure what is going on there. It had only been cooking for another ten minutes or so. I unwrapped the wire from the coin and noticed something strange....wait... Did I just electroplate the ****ing thing??? I realized that I had been using copper wires attached to the clips so I don't have to submerge them...works great with iron.

The "copper plating" seems to follow the areas that had the worst corrosion, but I've a sneaking suspicion I was electroplating my dollar. Glad the charger died when it did I suppose...

At that point I decided it was time for baking soda paste and a nice plastic bristled brush... so I scrubbed...and scrubbed some more....
 

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And this is where I've stopped tonight. They ain't perfect, but they are certainly cleaner. I don't really have an issue with them showing a little of their history (as girls from the dump, they were never going to be perfect).

The only other steps up would be the dreaded green Scotch pad and a dremel polish :p Maybe one of these days I'll do that...
 

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They look great T. Monumental effort, well done. Do you think tumbling them would have been too harsh ? Maybe just a quick 30 minutes to break down the outer layer of crud. Oh well its done now and as I said they look great. Mark
 
I liked them dirty, but they sure cleaned up nicely too (so far). Not sure what I would have done! Definitly crazy cool finds, congrats again!
 
Great play-by-play on the clean up, teotw. I agree, they really turned out pretty nice, especially considering the starting point!
 
Great job! I'm sure I'd have done something similar before putting them in my found coin book. I'd put photos and a history note with them.
 
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