Oil and Lacquered coins

[edduns]

In the 60's I remember some dealers and collectors who would oil or lacquer copper coins - Large cent and Lincoln's.

What was the reason behind this - did it have any effect on the coin condition (then and now) - did it effect the value of the coin (then and now).

Anyone have an example of a oiled or lacquered coin ??

Thanks for sharing Ed

[Dick]

Edduns, I don't know what the reason would be, other that to soak in MINERAL oil, to soften the crud, so it can be removed, withour harming the coin. I havs a few soaking, at this minute. Lacquer, now that is a different "ball-game", entirely! It infers deceit, in some form, at least to me.
Dick

[edduns]

Dick - These coins was being sold with oil and lacquer on them to the public and collector had them in their collections - maybe thought it would preserve the coin?

I was just wondering if it effected the coins codition/value today and if there was an example of one out there.

[eagames]

I've seen some lacquered cents.
I think they did it to stop toning.

Sometimes they cleaned them first then lacquered them.

If they did not clean them you can use acetone to get the lacquer off and the coins might be ok but if they cleaned them there's no way to "fix" them.

I recently saw a whole roll of 42-S cents and every coin had been cleaned then lacquered, they looked ok but if you looked close you could see the fine lines from the abrasive cleaning and the laquer on them. What a shame! The coins were probably slightly toned or spotted uncs before and still would have been decent but after the cleaning it reduced a $250 roll to a $2.50 roll.

[edduns]

Ed - If lacquer was used to stop toning - condition was not altered? except if you cleaned them.

I bet an E-bay dealer can take that 42-s roll cleaned and sell everyone as BU - todays NEW Lincoln buyers love RED Lincolns - cleaned or not.
I know there is still serious NEW Lincoln collectors that would never buy a cleaned Lincoln but still there is still a market for them.

[coop]

In the 1960's the common thing to preserve Cents was with olive oil. They thought this would help preserve the coins from turning green, which happened to coins that were exposed to water. But what they didn't know was because the olive oil is vegetable, it would make the coins smell from rotting olive oil. some even got a film on them that was discusting. Mineral oil is the choice today as it is closer to the type of oil used when minting the coins to keep away the green tone that can happen to Cents. But keeping them dry in BU condition inside a 2 x 2 or non PVC flip can keep them in close to the minted condition. Circulated Cents can be bathed and remove the crud that stick to the letters/numbers with a very soft (used) toothbrush or a green thorn. Becareful when deposits com off the circulated coin as the crud can contain sand or dirt that can scratch the coin, so care must be used.
In the 1960's they also used clear nail polish or lacquer/varnish to preserve BU coins. Most of the times the ones coated turned dark and did worse that just storing them in holders. So Still keep my BUs in 2 X 2's or coin tubes. There are some coin tubes, the square soft type that can cause a PVC film on them, so alway buy the stiff coinsafe brand. (Expecially for quarters) But with Cents I haven't seen that much of a problem with the soft copper square tubes. But they could be going bad and I haven't caught them yet. Most of my coins in tubes are the round clear plastic tubes with the white or sometimes clear caps. I one time bought som 1/2 roll tubes about 25 of them. I like them best, but don't make them anymore as far as I know. Great for storing several duplicate RPMs or DDs in them thater than having a whole roll for them.

[Danester]

Oiling and the use of lacquer is very common with the Large Cent group.... and they seem to except it.

When going through dealer stocks at shows I see many lacqued Lincolns. On the frist view they look great, but I stay away from them. I am sure the grading companies can spot them real quick.

Danester

[edduns]

Thanks all - I believe I understand why they used oil and lacquer back then and how it effected condition and value.

Thanks for sharing Ed

[Earwig]

Lets not all forget the Deller Darkener craze when every1 had to have those dark red cents. Dellers is also easily cleaned with acetone

Eric

[carlb]

If I remember way, way back then the reason coins were cleaned, laquered, enameled, oiled, etc was mainly because back then the thing was to have pretty coins, regardless of how they got to be pretty and shinny. Every coin store, hobby store, etc where coins were sold in the 40's and 50's always had most coins made to appeal to the public. Most people did not know anything about coins except the more of a shine, the better. Cleaning was a necessity. You must remember back then there was NO coin books, NO TV programs like Antique Road Show, NO coin shows, NO coin magazines, not even the coppercoins web site. As kids back then, if a coin was not pretty and shinny, it was no good. We lagged pennies(cents) on concrete sidewalks to try to hit the lines and if it was a 09S VDB, who cared. Just a penny, you know. I remember manyh kids cleaning coins with gasoline, turpintine, kerosine and anything to make them shine. We used to erase dates, mint marks, scratch a mustache on whoever was a coin. Coins were just coins back then. I was a weirdo. I collected the dumb things.