fire damage repair?

tbirde56

Someone emailed me that a relative had: 'Lost some coins in a fire. She had them in plastic sheets in albums. They are now melted and the coins that I have recovered are all black green etc. Is there any way in which they can be cleaned?'

Olive oil? Acetone? Unrecoverable?

historygeek

Fire oxides (corrodes) the surfaces of coins... If the coins were in there for a short time they might be ok, but if it was a house fire there is a high probability that they were in the fire for a long period, combined with high temperatures. Sorry, I don't have any good news.