Should I clean these? IH, wheat

[TejasDigger]

Should I just leave these the way they are? I'm very new to metal detecting and don't know what I should do with these.

This one is a wheatie and is in pretty bad shape. I think it is a 1912D but I'm not sure.





The next one is a Indian Head. Should I just leave it like it is?




I'm scared to do anything with them because of the way this one turned out. It's a
1929s wheatie I believe. It came out with a weird color, and it looks like it has been scratched
on the back, even though all I did was put it in vinegar and salt and shook it.




Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Cobalt*Blue]

Try the following experiment.

Take 4 wheat cents (not special to you); 1 in bad shape, 1 in nice dug shape and 2 some where in between the extreams. Heat up an ounce or so of hydrogen peroxide in the microwave and in a small glass. I use a tiny shot glass. When the h. peroxide just begins to boil stop the microwave and place one cent in the glass. Leave it for 8-10 min. or until the bubbling nearly stops. Do this for all 4 cents. Did any get looking better? Worse? You can repeat the hot soaks until no improvement is noticed. (3-4 soaks max). Also, gently rub the coins with a toothpick in between soaks if needed.
Now you should have the ability to decide if a peroxide soak will help or hurt a more special coin. Did you find that the coin had to be in moderately good shape to benefit? Coins in really tuff shape need only a distilled water soak. Remember that some times there is no smooth clean coin surface to uncover...You are looking at all that's there. hh blue

[Fr3nchy27]

Try the following experiment.

Take 4 wheat cents (not special to you); 1 in bad shape, 1 in nice dug shape and 2 some where in between the extreams. Heat up an ounce or so of hydrogen peroxide in the microwave and in a small glass. I use a tiny shot glass. When the h. peroxide just begins to boil stop the microwave and place one cent in the glass. Leave it for 8-10 min. or until the bubbling nearly stops. Do this for all 4 cents. Did any get looking better? Worse? You can repeat the hot soaks until no improvement is noticed. (3-4 soaks max). Also, gently rub the coins with a toothpick in between soaks if needed.
Now you should have the ability to decide if a peroxide soak will help or hurt a more special coin. Did you find that the coin had to be in moderately good shape to benefit? Coins in really tuff shape need only a distilled water soak. Remember that some times there is no smooth clean coin surface to uncover...You are looking at all that's there. hh blue

Agreed. Couldn't have said it better.

[TejasDigger]

Thanks guys.