Help needed on a damaged 48 doubled eye cent

JRocco · Veteran Member

Found a few more of these nice doubled eye 48P Lincoln's from a new roll, but some of them suffer from really bad corrosion spots. Can anything be done at this point to save these or to al least stop any further damage?

Bob P · Site Admin

Those are nice doubled eyelids! As far as stopping the corrosion, at this point, you need to remove what is on there without affecting the remaining patina on the coin. I would suggest using Goo-Gone or Acetone to try and remove the green corrosion. Do not scrub the coin, but blot the areas with a cotton swab and the liquid.
Right now...I would say the corrosion may be as bad as it's going to get, except that we don't know when the water (or corrosive making material) was spilled on the coin. If it was way back in 1948...it would probably be much worse by now.
After you clean it as best you can, pat it completely dry and put it in a non-PVC flip or an air-tite of some sort.
By stopping the corrosion process now, your coins should be safe for a long time.

rollmeupabe · Veteran Member

MS-70 Coin Brightener restores contaminated coins. It will remove the corrosion from the coin but leave some spots where the corrosion was. MS-70 Coin Brightener is not a "dip" but if you leave a penny in this stuff overnight it will eat away at the coin. I left a few 1943 steel pennies in overnight to see what would happen and they looked like new when I took them out and rinsed them off. Under a scope you can see where the old corrosion was.

If you are keeping the coins for your own collection, this stuff works better than anything else I have tried. I tried the acetone and Goo Gone but never had the same results. Be careful when using because it is strong stuff. Apply with a Q tip and don't let it sit on the coin for very long. It may discolor some coins so try it out on some valueless coins to see if you like it or not. CAUTION - If you are planning on getting coins graded this may cause the grading to be classified as cleaned.

Bob P · Site Admin

I agree also with rollmeupabe's recommendation. Except for the chance of damaging the coin if left in the MS70 liquid for too long, this stuff does work pretty well. Of course...anytime you remove corrosion, there will be pitted areas. However, you can leave the coin in goo-gone for days, and it won't affect the patina. I also strongly agree that you should test whatever you decide to use on something other than what you want to 'restore'. Great advice, and a few tips to help you out Jrocco. Either way you go, I have had some success with all mentioned cleaning solutions. Good luck on yours, and let us know how it turns out...OK?

JRocco · Veteran Member

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help. I have a couple of similar (non doubled eye) coins sitting in goo-gone and a couple sitting in a jar with some pure acetone. I need to pick up some MS70 as I have never used it before. I will reply to the board with the results-should be interesting.

joeyuk · Advanced Member

Anybody have experience using ms70 on aluminium? I cleaned a couple coins with it and one seemed to fizz up like peroxide on a open cut. The others also aluminium and brass did not have this reaction.
I know aluminium pans are not supposed to be washed in dishwasher and thought the ms70 may share some properties with dishwashing soap.
Another thought was perhaps the coin that reacted is counterfeit and the impurities reacted. Either way ther are off to the Gods at pcgs for grading.