Ruined proofs...

8 posts
I received these in change today. they are the same date, 1985S. I reckon they were in a roll that was ruined by a plumbing problem.

What can be done? they can be "guinea pigs". any suggestions?
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
Left one looks corroded... not much to be done on would guess.
I sell my Duplicate or Un-Needed coins on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/str/coinsandmorenj.
You can try to deep them in a cleaning solutions, preferably the one designed for cleaning of the copper coins - but only if you already have it, no sense to buy any for these coins... Alternatively, take an extra soft tooth brush with some liquid soap and try to clean the coins and if what you see is a deposit on the surface of the coins this might help.
Having said that, I have to agree with aaronmgd - it looks like a corrosion and it this case you can do nothing, as coins are already irreversibly ruined.
There is a time for everything - Il y a un temps pour tout - Всему есть свое время - Для всього свій час, і година своя кожній справі під небом
I wonder what electrolysis would do to them...
It may at least remove the corrosion, right? The damage underneath cannot be repaired, but at least the corrosion would be removed.
If you wouldn't mind ending up with a penny that looks like this, I would like to see how much different it would look starting with a proof.


The items needed are some cotton tipped swabs, some metal polish and a small torch to add the toning.
Electrolysis wouldn't remove the corrosion completely, it would only blow off the surface layer of it. The "proof" look would be gone no matter what you do, but there is a way to make it look like it is a darker brown toned mat proof. The rainbow tone above is achieved by heating the copper until you start to see an effect like "Colour bleeding" when you pull the coin from the flame. You can also achieve it by using electrolysis in a mixture of water and caustic soda (Wear gloves when handling caustic soda based products, safety first)
Restoration addict : Verdigris Removal : Zinc White spot removal : Iron Rust Removal : Silver brooch/necklace mount Removal
Quote: "Fluke" ...but there is a way to make it look like it is a darker brown toned mat proof...
​I think that in order to achieve equal matt effect on these coins, one has to use some kind of etching solution first in order to remove the leftovers of the mirror finishing - otherwise I am afraid the corrosion spots will be still visible. Such etching mixtures are usually very aggressively corrosive and I strongly DO NOT recommend using them at home.
There is a time for everything - Il y a un temps pour tout - Всему есть свое время - Для всього свій час, і година своя кожній справі під небом
Quote: "glykan"
Quote: "Fluke" ...but there is a way to make it look like it is a darker brown toned mat proof...



​​I think that in order to achieve equal matt effect on these coins, one has to use some kind of etching solution first in order to remove the leftovers of the mirror finishing - otherwise I am afraid the corrosion spots will be still visible. Such etching mixtures are usually very aggressively corrosive and I strongly DO NOT recommend using them at home.
The mirror finish is what gives the coin the matt proof look after, so you do not want to put it in a corrosive solution to remove it. It does take a bit of persistence to make the coin surface uniformed after corrosion like this however.
Restoration addict : Verdigris Removal : Zinc White spot removal : Iron Rust Removal : Silver brooch/necklace mount Removal

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