Help - cleaning semi-key Jefferson

[Twitch]

Hey I need some help from some of the knowledgable folks here. My 5 year old pulled a '38-S Jefferson out of a MWR today. It's in really nice shape but has what looks like a piece of gum or something over the back half of the work LIBERTY. Normally I'd just take a standard wooden toothpick and clean the gum off but because the coin is a bit hard to find and in very nice shape I'd like to know if there are more sophisticated ways to clean the gum off with out devaluing or damaging the coin. Thanks in advance for the help. And I'm jut guessing it's gum, I haven't tasted it yet.

 

[bigscores]

Soak it in acteone for a while and see what happens.

 

[DaytonaRacer]

You can also use lemon juice. It's acidic like acetone but a little less harsh.

 

[bigscores]

You can also use lemon juice. It's acidic like acetone but a little less harsh.

WHAT? Acetone is 6-7 on the PH scale, it's pretty neutral. DO NOT USE LEMON JUICE. Acetone will not react with nickel, copper, gold or silver. It's very safe to use on coins.

EDIT: Acetone also dissolves pretty much most organic material if given long enough. Don't be afraid to soak it in there for a day, then use your nail to gently remove a good bit of the gum before throwing it back in there for a couple days. Just make sure to change the acetone out daily and use a sealed glass container and don't let it evaporate.

I've had coins in acetone for as long as 3 weeks before.

 

[D1MES_101]

WHAT? Acetone is 6-7 on the PH scale, it's pretty neutral. DO NOT USE LEMON JUICE. Acetone will not react with nickel, copper, gold or silver. It's very safe to use on coins.

rubbing alchohal is a pH of 5.0 in an aqueous solution (aq) maybe you can try that - but i dont know what it will do to the coin because im not an expert in cleaning coins.

btw = nice find! i never found a 38 yet

 

[bigscores]

rubbing alchohal is a pH of 5.0 in an aqueous solution (aq) maybe you can try that - but i dont know what it will do to the coin because im not an expert in cleaning coins.

btw = nice find! i never found a 38 yet

Don't use that either. The only things I would EVER use to remove a foreign substance from a coin are distilled water, acetone, or xylene, in that order.

 

[FreedomUIC]

Don't use that either. The only things I would EVER use to remove a foreign substance from a coin are distilled water, acetone, or xylene, in that order.

Fingernail Polist is NOT ACETONE either, do not use that. You may want to initially change out the Acetone every six or seven hours during the first two days of soaking. Make sure that you
rinse the coin in Acetone when you take it out(Fresh Acetone) as some of the crud will stick to the coin that has already been removed.

 

[Twitch]

Thanks for the information. One last question, possibly dumber than the first, once it's soaked in the distilled water or Acetone, will the material magically lift itself off the coin or is some amount of physical removal generally required? I have a different Jeff nickel that ha a similar material on it. Obviously I'll trial whatever we come up with on that one first. Thanks.

 

[FormerTeller]

You can also use lemon juice. It's acidic like acetone but a little less harsh.

Lemon juice, with a pH of around 2, is a considerably harsher acid than acetone, whose pH is between 6 and 7.

 

[Twitch]

btw = nice find! i never found a 38 yet

The '38-S came out of $30 worth of Nickels I bought yesterday. Today we opened the other half of the rolls and the 5 year old also found a '38 Jeff. Pretty sick. I had a '38-S from change found last fall but didn't have a '38 in the book yet. The kid is on fire. The 7 year old found 2 '39 Jeff's but no mint marks. Found two 09-P dimes out of $45. Also had three foriegns (Canada, Spain, Netherlands) and 10 pennies. Not sure whats up there other than I'm down a buck.

 

[Twitch]

Update w/ Pics

Here are pictures of the '38 and the '38-S the 5 year old found. The loose stuff came off pretty easily.

Thanks.

 

[billionaire]

Yeah ive found more than average 38s lately. My last two nickel boxes gave up 4 including an extremely fine 38-D. Im pretty happy with this i hope it keeps going