Conservation before storage

[EZ_E]

We 're out of here in 11 days since my x-ray assignment in Tonopah is done. I was going thru my collection to see what I'm taking and what to put in my safe deposit box. I decided to put my complete collections of modern commemorative silver dollars and state quarter collection all housed in Danscos in deep storage. Of course, I had to admire my collection before I did and I noticed some spittle that had turned dark brown on my Smithsonian proof and on my silver proof Tennessee state quarter. There was some unsightly toning on some of the other coins as well. I knew that time would not be a healer so I broke out my EZest coin dip solution to take care of things before they got worse. The Smithsonian was too late. Even after the dip the spittle has already eaten into the surface. The TN proof luckily had the spot on the frosted cameo so it came off w/o a hitch and I can't even tell it was there. The Kentucy clad proof had a spittle dot near the rim. Too late for that one, too. It's there until infinity. I had bought the set on ebay, btw, so it's not my spit. 'Tis a great lesson for all! When handling such sensitive coins, never talk, cough or sneeze in their vicinity. Of course, distilled water is best to rinse the coins afterwards but I didn't have any so I used hot tap water to thoroughly rinse them and a clean, dry terrycloth towel to pat dry. I made sure that every bit of moisture was off of them, otherwise the cure would be worse than the disease. The other coins turned out nice and now they are ready to be put in storage at my bank.