How much varnishing determines the coin's value - general discussion

Hi

As an example I can show a Balingen 50 pfennig 1918 notgeld in UNC/AU condition. 

The montage is only 20 010 pieces. I'm aware that notgelds don't have high value in most cases.

However I'm still curious how much coins (in general terms) have lower value because they are varnished.

Maybe someone could bring some other examples?

Varnishing coins was quite popular 50 years ago, they thought it would protect the coins from wear (which is correct), but god knows what damage the varnish is actually doing to the coin itself. However I think the main factor in varnishing was that a varnished coin can enhance the coins appearance, the varnish acts almost like a mirror at certain angles which somewhat recreates the look of new uncirculated coins, you yourself have graded this Notgeld at AU/UNC from its varnished appearance.

Unfortunately from my experience once the varnish is removed the actual grade and appearance of the coin is lower, which is why varnished coins have a lower value, and why most collectors avoid them. The good news is the varnish is easily removed with acetone, the bad news is that once removed the coin visually never lives up to the grade you once thought it had.

Maybe I will try to remove this just to get better picture how much difference it will be.

Is acetone itself dangerous for the coin's surface?

Pure acetone isn‘t dangerous to coins, there are some who say be careful of the cheaper (nail varnish remover) types, but even they are fine. You can search the forum for „acetone“ top right, here is a good thread;

https://en.numista.com/forum/topic154244.html

Essentially just drop it in for a few minutes (use a separate glass or something) then get it out and rub between your fingers, I usually use rubber gloves, and you will get a sticky gluey glob of the varnish to come off (sometimes it will peel off in one), when you have the main blob off drop the coin back to soak, then repeat the rubbing with fingers, then rinse well under water, pat dry.

Varnish gets in every little gap, and sometimes needs a longer soak, you will be able to see the places it gets if you do a quick second dip and rinse, let the coin dry and you will see some white areas - these are the areas where the varnish is still on the coin (often between letters, near rim, etc) but has started to react to the acetone. 
 

Oh yeah, then pour the acetone back to a bottle or jar, you can compare colours after many uses, and I reuse the used acetone for cheap coins. You always have the non contaminated new stuff if you have something of greater value. Acetone is also useful for other coin restoration not just removing varnish.

I have a very large German notgeld collection. Well over 90% of my coins have been varnished from the original or previous collectors. This must have been a very common method for these collectors in Germany. It prevents rust on the iron coins and prevents rot on the zinc coins, so I can understand why this preservation method has been used.

I have not tried to remove the varnish from any iron coins, but I have tried to remove it from a zinc coin one time via acetone soak, and the result was terrible. It turned a decent looking zinc coin into an ugly discolored mess. My best guess is the result of removing varnish from iron with acetone would cause very little damage, but I have not tried.

I will not attempt further varnish removal from any zinc examples, and in my opinion, they are beautiful with the varnish on them. They are also likely to never get zinc rot.

gyoschak

I have a very large German notgeld collection. Well over 90% of my coins have been varnished from the original or previous collectors. This must have been a very common method for these collectors in Germany. It prevents rust on the iron coins and prevents rot on the zinc coins, so I can understand why this preservation method has been used.

 

I have not tried to remove the varnish from any iron coins, but I have tried to remove it from a zinc coin one time via acetone soak, and the result was terrible. It turned a decent looking zinc coin into an ugly discolored mess. My best guess is the result of removing varnish from iron with acetone would cause very little damage, but I have not tried.

 

I will not attempt further varnish removal from any zinc examples, and in my opinion, they are beautiful with the varnish on them. They are also likely to never get zinc rot.

I have also had some bad results with zinc coins, but not always, sometimes they come out really nice. So I came to the conclusion that it must be the quality of the coin underneath rather than the acetone, I could be wrong though.

Either way though I will still remove the varnish as I don‘t like that fake shiny varnished look, it somehow seems dishonest to have them enhanced like that. Obviously just a personal opinion, but from the same point of view I won’t or at least think long and hard about buying varnished coins, I find a few in lots quite often but haven‘t seen a whole collection varnished for awhile, they become cheaper because they are so much work to restore, and as you and I both agree, the results are sometimes horrible once the varnish is removed.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone to varnish their coins, maybe the varnish itself degrades the zinc coins sometimes? 
I know that older collectors varnished to improve the look of their coins, that to me says that the coin wasn’t great to start with.

I have many beautiful notgelds in my collection like AU and UNC. Several of them are varnished though.

What I'm concern is the effect of acetone on coin's material. When coin is not in a great condition, the lack of varnish can reveal those minuses. However the question is if acetone can damage the surface when removing the varnish.

Neutral, synthetic varnish prolongs the original look of zinc, iron, bronze and copper coins almost indefinitely. The only downside is gradual yellowing of the coat that most of us won't live long enough to see. No other storage can protect such coins from atmospheric damage as varnish can (well, protection was why varnishes were invented in the first place). 

Discarding their use offhand is a kind of fashionable puritanism. Having a coin imprisoned in a slab is OK and protected by varnish isn't? I don't think so. 

Varnishing is a personal preference, I don’t think anyone has dismissed it. However generally now it is not used on coins, correct storage and care (with or without slabs) is the way to really look after your coins. 
 

I also think it is generally accepted that varnish was often used to enhance a coins look rather than just to protect it, which combined with the work it takes to get off, is why most collectors now will not buy varnished coins, and why you shouldn’t varnish your coins (okay yes I have dismissed it now). But this is in future tense, we can’t change the past and dismissing already varnished coins is not what I am doing, it is just a case of whether you want to restore the coin to its original state without the varnish or not, with the biggest problem being IMO that the actual original state is sometimes worse than it appears with the varnish there. Also if you want to sell the coin, you may find it hard to find a buyer.

As for acetone damaging the coins surface, no it won’t, any damage visible after removing varnish was almost certainly there beforehand, and was probably the reason someone varnished it to start with.