To clean or not to clean?

[lara4228]

Hi all,

New and I have been posting. Now the big question. I know we are not to be clean our coins, but some of them, especially for me because I find mine from Canadian rolls, so they are all circulated, can be very disgusting on the exterior, yet the coin itself is in decent condition.

For example, one coin I was examining tonight, the details are fantastic, except on the Obverse, someone coloured the thing with pencil. Do I 'erase' this, mild wash it with soap and water, acetone? (I read that somewhere, but it doesn't sound right to me, hence the post! lol)

Info from the pros and the pros wannabes alike please?

Lara

[liveandievarieties]

My own personal opinion on the subject is this- IF IT'S A COIN THAT'S NOT COLLECTIBLE, not a rarity, screw around with it! See what an eraser does, try a harsh cleaner, see what different methods cause what kind of damage. The idea here is not to learn to deceive, but rather to learn to not be deceived.
As a kid I did all kinds of dreadful things to coins. I never any malicious intent, or tried to turn the coin into something it's not, I was just completely curious and experimented.

Years later, having done that has given me a lot of insight into what an original coin looks like, versus something that has been messed with. People who intentionally alter the appearance of a coin to cause it to look better than it actually is, are crooks. And they can be incredibly good. I still get fooled. But knowing what I do has helped keep this boat afloat.

As for any coin that has a numismatic value, the old adage of "Never clean a coin!" will always hold true.

Acetone can safely remove surface contaminants without altering the surface of the copper coin in any way. BUT- this is safest for circulated coins only, and even then, read up fully on recommended techniques which should be easily found with a web search.

And now come the replies of horror........lol.

[lara4228]

And now come the replies of horror........lol.

lmao

Thanks for your info. I did do a little bit of research on the whole acetone thing and I still a little skeptical about using it. I mean, I have it in my bedroom for when I want to remove my nail polsih, my husband borrows it when he needs to use it for his RC Boat hobby or when fixing something in our garage. Those 2 usage's (if thats a word) makes me leary.

I've seen on websites cleaner, professional I suppose, but because I am so new at this, I don't want to get sucked into a gimmick just because I'm new.

Lara

[Scott99]

I've asked this same question along with a few people since i've joined and after reading everything i've decided not to do anything to the pennies that would be considered cleaning them. I leave them how they come out of the bank roll. Just the decision i've come to after everything that has been posted.

[jcuve]

To reiterate Chris' point - just fiddle with regular coins and nothing collectible. Almost every experiment to clean a coin leads to irreparable harm to the coins surface - including anything done with good intentions or fast soaks in agents.

I have done some restoration work on a few circulated coins to reveal doubling obscured by dirt. I have some odd tools I use under a 60x scope - nothing I would or will advice anyone to repeat.

[lara4228]

Thanks guys.

I will wait for a few more posts before I make my 'final' decision.

I guess, because of my gender, I am not into 'experimenting' or maybe it is just my lazy side.

I hate gathering liquids and utensils together to 'try' something new...unless its dinner!

But I kind of do agree with Scott, I think the 'true' value should 'shine' on its own from its own natural state, whether it be tarnished one way or another. Whoever desires the coin will accept it for its flaws as well as its flourishes.

Just wanted to hear what other people's opinions are on the matter.

[mustbebob]

If you use acetone to remove surface contaminants on circulated coins, do NOT use the acetone found in fingernail polish remover. The has additives in it whereas pure acetone is what you would want to use.

[lara4228]

If you use acetone to remove surface contaminants on circulated coins, do NOT use the acetone found in fingernail polish remover. The has additives in it whereas pure acetone is what you would want to use.


Thank you for that tid bit. I do use only pure acetone. It is the only thing that gets red out from near my cuticles!

The "nail polish remover" is just a gimmick. Nothing like the real McCoy lol.

[Coppertop]

I used to seperate my dirty copper coins into their own box after sorting. Call it being a coin Nazi or something but I just didn't want any ichy nasty verdigras slime covered coins touching my other ones . The same reason I would take the shiny ones and roll em. It seems that stuff spreads like wild fire sometimes. My grand mother passed and had a jug of cents covered with crud so bad I had to dump most of em @ the bank .Pretty sad . It's safe to say after about oh 100 lbs or so sorted I'd gather a box up I would then soak them in a salt n vinegar bath , rinse them , then pat with towel and allow to air dry. Then store them in seperate container . Didn't work out , Call it an whatever but I just seemed to corrode the coins and brown rusty powder of a coating on them all because of water etc. Now I just keep then together. I was afraid the verdigras would spread but then I realized screw it , its natural how they be. "It is what it is " I got a 5gal jug full of coins that a guy was saving for decades and they are shiny as when they left his pocket and he put them in there. I guess it all depends on the enviroment they are stored. I do have my curiosity and even recently asked before about semi dirty coins with crud on them before storing in 2x2 but that's my experience with my copper hoarding hat.It took too much time , cost me vinegar , time to sort, time to clean ,dry and on a mass level it kinda damaged the coins . Today I appreciate the coinage I handle. If I am to return coins to bank I make sure the cointainer is dry , clean etc. With all the dirty coins I deal with in searching,sorting etc,I just respect not making any worse so the community is dealing with less filthy cruddy circulated coins .

[lara4228]

I am really confused.

So you use to use vinegar and salt but now you don't because of the undesired result?

[Coppertop]

Yes salt and vinegar will clean the copper to a shine within minutes.(<==PLZ DONT DO THIS) Get a zincon in there it isn't good . Now I just keep all the copper stored together unsorted. You can't polish a turd

[tinytinkerbell]

You can't polish a turd

:LOL_Hair::LOL_Hair::LOL_Hair:

but some will always try!!

[liveandievarieties]

I am really confused.

That's what Coppertop is good for Lara.

AND BY THE WAY- Why are you dredging up posts that are nearly a year old? If you have something of interest to add to our group, you should start a new thread, not dig up bodies...

[pman860507]

You can't polish a turd


:LOL_Hair::LOL_Hair::LOL_Hair:

but some will always try!!


you actually can. They did it on mythbuster!

[liveandievarieties]

You can't polish a turd

Nice. I love the new LCR!!

Now off to CoinTalk, the CONECA forum and CCF. (as the William Tell Overature plays in the background....)

[lara4228]

AND BY THE WAY- Why are you dredging up posts that are nearly a year old? If you have something of interest to add to our group, you should start a new thread, not dig up bodies...

Not necessarily true - this one thread is labeled as a "TIP" so I think any questions or added information would be valid.

[liveandievarieties]

Hmmm, OK. Maybe I've been doing this whole forum thing wrong.

[Maineman750]

I just hope a newbie doesn't get on here and think it's fine to clean with vinegar and salt....I can see it now on eBay...cleaned just like I learned on LCR :tinysmile_hmm_t:

[Coppertop]

I just hope a newbie doesn't get on here and think it's fine to clean with vinegar and salt....I can see it now on eBay...cleaned just like I learned on LCR :tinysmile_hmm_t:
I hope they don't :squigglemouth: I only tried it because I had a box of (COPPER) cents that looked like they were gonna crawl out of the box and onto the floor.

[liveandievarieties]

Naw Roger- let's go with Lara, we can post reckless and dangerous suggestions as fact and well, newbies are hear to learn one way or the other, right?

[lara4228]

Chris, I'm not too sure how to take your comment. Are you suggesting that I am making reckless and dangerous statements for others to take as a fact?

[EgCollector]

Well, i am not a newbie if we are talking coin collecting but i am new here and when i searched for cleaning as to see what you guys/galls say about that subject, i found this topic and i find this discussion interesting and i do agree with

My own personal opinion on the subject is this- IF IT'S A COIN THAT'S NOT COLLECTIBLE, not a rarity, screw around with it!........Years later, having done that has given me a lot of insight into what an original coin looks like, versus something that has been messed with.

although i dont have the luxury to experiment on cents as i dont have that many :)

and with this also

To reiterate Chris' point - just fiddle with regular coins and nothing collectible. Almost every experiment to clean a coin leads to irreparable harm to the coins surface - including anything done with good intentions or fast soaks in agents.

[john_doe]

I firmly stand behind the fact that you should never clean coins, but I have heard dipping in acetone will not change the luster to look cleaned.