A REAL CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! HUGE TREASURE CACHE FOUND!

[Asterx]

Congrats! And to find it all in one nice bank to boot []

 

[RICKJJ59W]

Cool find on the bank NY. That bank might be worth more then the coins []

 

[LC]

I am surprised the bank is made of lead , never seen one made of lead . Seems like it sould have been made of cast iron .

 

[NyDigger1]

Turns out that regular treatment isnt working, the coins closest to the iron cap are covered in rust that spilled from it, the ones touching the lead got caked from natural electrolysis in the ground (the same can be seen with copper jacket bullets, either the lead takes over the copper and spills out, or the lead falls out, rarely do you still have the even proportion). The ones near the opening oxidized to black. Will do my best to clean them naturally, and will keep soaking them for a few days, but its not looking good... Ill probably have to use electrolysis and tumble a large portion.

 

[idigjars]

Very cool story. Congrats on your finds. Paul

 

[elmoleaf]

Never clean a silver coin that has collector value with a toothbrush or by wiping with your thumb or anything else. Silver is incredibly soft and toothbrushes will leave fine hairline scratches all over the coin. It might look ok to you, but it will never be able to be professionally graded and collectors will not buy it. You can reduce the collector value by half or more.

Obviously, tumbling is considerably more abrasive and should only be done on clad coins you intend to spend.

Electrolysis is the way to go. It actually can take only a matter of 5 minutes or so for not so crusty stuff.
Don't wipe any coins....blot them.
Good luck....and if you have time, post the dates/mintmarks. It'd be interesting to know what was circulating in the the late 1940s.

 

[acls]

This story made my day. It was really smart film the opening. I don't know that I would have been able to contain myself and probably would have just ripped into it straight away. Congratualtions!

 

[Dansalata]

GREAT FINDS..THANKS FOR THE STORY AND VIDEO!!!MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

[GuntherHess]

In general I would agree with elmoleaf , cleaning coins is a bad bad thing to collectors.
But , as a person that has dug a lot of coins , sometimes there isnt a lot of choice.
The goal is to do as little harm as possible. A collector would probably prefer a dirty original coin than a shiny scratched coin.
I would first separate out any coins which might have more than bullion value ... rare dates/mint marks or ones that are in exceptional condition (if any). The rest are probably just going to be of low value and you can clean any way you want without affecting then too much. For rust you might want something with oxalic acid like barkeeper's friend (but not the abraisive type).
Just my opinion of course. Excellent find.

 

[NyDigger1]

PICTURES (please do not use or send them anywhere else without asking me first, it might sound weird but people have used my pics without permission in the past):