Given the number of experienced collectors on this forum I'm hoping someone can help with this problem of mine. I also have nine questions that I hope someone can answer.
Has anyone collected special edition Pepsi cans or Coca Cola cans before?
Well, the problem is I collected two unopened carbonated drink cans with all the carbonated water still inside them, years ago as a kid. I recently discovered that they had leaked in my cabinet after following a trail of ants using a flashlight.
Q1. There were no holes (from what I see) at the bottom of the cans, how did the carbonated water leak?
The carbonated water (though it isn't exactly water now) that leaked was brownish-black in colour and somewhat gooey. I believe the colour is the colour of melted/decomposed sugar. One of the things it came into contact with was this piece of scented wood used for keeping insects away from the cabinet. The scented wood is a very pale yellow/brown but I think it soaked up some of the decomposed carbonated water leak and those parts that soaked it up turned blue.
I have a couple of empty Pepsi cans around those two leaking cans and the Pepsi cans have these brownish-black spots and some lime-greenish blobs at the bases. I believe the brownish-black spots are the melted/decomposed sugar which eventually contracted (like what happens when u burn sugar). That brings me to the question.
Q2. But what are those lime-greenish blobs? I doubt they are algae as there were only a couple of those blobs.
I'm not sure, but it may be related to the scented wood since the scented wood turned blue.
I also noticed that the dust found on my other figures (placed beside the two leaking carbonated cans) looked very weird. It wasn't the usual kind of grey dust that were either in specks or cluttered together to form balls or carpets.
Q3 Besides a little of the normal grey dust, there was quite a big number of the weird red-strand thingy kind of "dust". This red-strand thingy kind of "dust" were rather sparsely distributed (large gaps between them compared to the area of themselves) and did not clump together. Does anyone have any idea what those red strands are? Could these red-strands of "dust" be the carbonated water that evaporated within the cabinet and then settled on the figures?
And then comes the two big problems. I happened to have three plushies placed beside the two leaking cans. And they were closer to the two leaking cans than my figures were.
The first plushie had its card-material tag with a nice drawn picture of itself (attached to the cloth-material tag) and part of the cloth-material tag (attached to the back of the plushie) soaked in the leak. So the card-material tag turned from its original white to a light brownish colour with a tint of blue and a few solid spots of light blue. The cloth material tag turned from its original white to a light brownish colour with blue colour at both ends (especially the end touching the card-material tag).
Thankfully, the carbonated water did not manage to soak any part of the plushie. Here comes the very important question.
Q4. Is it possible for me to remove the light brown colouration caused by the carbonated water? Can I use filter paper to try and absorb the brown colouration somehow? Can I use a similar method to Paper Chromatography (as in GCE O Level Chemistry) to remove the discolouration on the tags?
The second and third plushies were thankfully not in contact with the leaked carbonated water as the black residue left behind on the cabinet shelf did not reach their area. To the main issue. They were originally in full body costumes that were rather shiny and glittery (but there was no glitter). However, most of that shiny material has disappeared, except around some parts where there were special prints and logos, leaving the plain coloured material. Surprisingly, the areas of the butt of those two plushies (they are sitting) that were in full contact with the shelf surface of the cabinet also retained their their shiny material (though it's not a lot). I discovered those areas when I lifted them up from the cabinet shelf and I heard this "tearing sound" (like what u hear when u are removing a small bit of not-so-sticky tape from your box of figures).
The figures are 10 years old but there are no breaks or tears in the plushie, only the disappearance of the shiny material from almost the entire plushie.
The material listed on the cloth tag was 100% polyester fiber fill, so I guess the shiny and "glittery" material was also made of it. The cleaning instructions read, "Do not immerse" and "Surface clean only". The more "furry" and plushie-like heads of the plushies looked fine and unharmed in any way (but they were encased in this plastic bowl-like container so it might have acted as a buffer).
Q5. Does anyone know what caused this disappearance of the shiny material? I have two hypothesis, first is it may be due to natural oxidation and old age and the second is that somehow the leaked carbonated water evaporated and turned into carbonic acid gas and corroded the shiny material. This is because I noticed that areas that didn't come into contact with air actually kept their shiny material unharmed.
I have never played with any of those three plushies I mentioned; I've only put them on display in the cabinet these years, so the disappearance of the shiny material is not due to play wear.
I also observed the ants for a while and they did not come into contact with my plushies as they were only interested in the leaked "carbonated" goo. So the disappearance of the shiny material is not due to ants. However they did crawl over the card-material tag of the first plushie I mentioned.
Here is the last question.
Q6. I would like to find out ways to properly and most importantly completely remove the carbonated goo residue from the shelf of my cabinet. The reason I need an expert on this issue is because the shelf is made of wood, so it could be possible that it has "soaked" up some of the carbonated residue. Can someone please help?
Q7. I also have these four unopened Sydney 2000 Olympics Coca-Cola cans (with the carbonated water still inside). These are different from the first two I mentioned at the beginning.
The red normal version felt very light, so the cola may have melted/decomposed and there is a chance that it may have leaked.
However, the Gold, Silver, Bronze versions with the mascots still feel very heavy though the top looks slightly bloated (may be due to the carbonated water being spoiled). So they definitely have not leaked yet.
Q7A. My question is, are the Gold, Silver, Bronze cans special and made of better quality material, such that they have yet to leak yet?
Q7B. Do you think they will leak like the first two cans I mentioned?
Q7C. Is anybody collecting these cans as well and has experience regarding this issue to share?
Thanks for reading this long post of mine and answering any questions =)
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