Ultra-Sonic Cleaners

[chico-man]

I was wondering if anyone has tried an ultra-sonic cleaner to clean there coins.I own an Optical Store and we use one for cleaning glasses and jewelery.
I think I will try it and see if its works on some of my coins....Let me know if anyone else has had any success.

[Carson Coin Master]

what do you use to clean the jewlery? and about the coins i have one of those at work too and i found the best way to get modern day looking clad looking fresh and new from the mint is fill the ultrasonic cleaner with fresh water and take a small glass beaker and put in nitric acid that is pretty watered down. just set it in there for a few minutes and they come out really shiny. dont do it to silver or gold it will eat right through.

[Cubfan64]

I was wondering if anyone has tried an ultra-sonic cleaner to clean there coins.I own an Optical Store and we use one for cleaning glasses and jewelery.
I think I will try it and see if its works on some of my coins....Let me know if anyone else has had any success.

I have one that works great for all my jewelry finds. The few older coins I've tried in there did not turn out well. I had an IH penny that was slightly corroded, and the ultrasonic bath did exactly what it was supposed to do - it removed everything that was loose from the coin - including lots of corrosion spots that were in little "pits" in the coin. It wouldn't have been bad if there were only a couple of those little pits in the coin, but when it was finished I could identify every single little pit that used to filled with some corrosion - it actually became much less defined after the bath than it was before.

For clad I just use a rock tumbler - for silver I use an electrolysis bath, for any older copper coins I haven't quite figured out the best way to handle them yet. Some folks say give them a good olive oil soaking, others use hydrogen peroxide and a cue tip, some use warm water and a soft toothbrush.

You'll find a variety of opinions here as to the best way to deal with them. The only universal recommendation you'll find though is that if you have any idea at all that the coin may be valuable, don't do anything to clean it other than perhaps warm water and light brushing.