New member needs help

[tmdavis3]

Hello all! I am a new member here, although I have lurked for months soaking up knowledge and learning....

Recently, I have been on two trips checking out an old home that burned down a couple years ago. (With permission. Home is that of a family friend located in the lowcountry of South Carolina - sandy coastal soil.) At the time of the fire, the home contained bars of solid silver, a collection of old coins and tokens, a couple glass jars of pocket change, jewlery boxes full of jewelry, and many other items.

I have recovered alot of melted metal, as expected, and some identifiable pieces. However, I do not know how to identify what types of metal these melted lumps are. I also found a couple of tokens. One side has the word "McGraw" between two lines with a small starburst in the center of each line. The other side has a bust of a man, but I cannot make it out much due to crud buildup.

What can I use to clean the burnt crud deposits off the tokens and metallic lumps?

 

[tmdavis3]

A photo of the tokens.... and loot from the second hunting trip.

 

[seger98]

Hi there, I would try hydrogen peroxide to clean the tokens, pennies & nickels.

Take some peroxide & heat it up in the microwave for like 30 seconds, in a plastic dish of course.

After it's warmed up then put the tokens in there, let them sit for a while

Use a soft toothbrush & see what you can get off them,

repeat if necessary.

Chris

 

[tmdavis3]

Thanks, Chris. I tried hydrogen peroxide, but not heated. I will try that tonight on the coins.

Any clues about how to identify the melted metals?? Anyone?? I'd love to recover those silver bars....

 

[fmerg]

i know that you can use hydrochoric acid if it truns a milky color its junk if it stays clear its silver
if you check with your local jewler he can help you
i would suggest you goto a smaller shop and not a chain jewler
who knows maybe you can get a md'ing buddy