Help with cleaning - Did I ruin my clad ?

eman1000

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So I tried to clean my clad from 2018 and put all the quarters, nickels, and dimes in a plastic jar with dish soap, vinegar, salt and aquarium gravel and let it soak for 20 minutes then shook by hand off and on for 10 minutes or so...

Now some of the coins are colorized (some look pretty cool), some look brownish (maybe from the copper coming through?) and some are still just plain dirty.


Can I fix them with a rock tumbler? Not sure I wan't to spend $50 on a tumbler for $40 dollars worth of clad.

Sorry I didn't think to take any pics before I left for work.

Thanks
 

smokeythecat

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Just spend it or put it in a coin machine. No banks cares what clad looks like! Fortunately.
 

dfallis1

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That's typical. Every time I wash before taking to coin star the coins turn a rusty copper color. You can separate the pennies before cleaning, that might help. Like Smokey said, they don't care just drop them in a coinstar. Try to take out the crusty ones first, zincolns usually.
 

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eman1000

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Thanks, I may splurge for the tumbler sometime but I may stop by the coin star as is for now.
 

smokeythecat

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I have a tumbler for the same use. I don't bother with it anymore, last time I just dumped them, dirt and all, unwashed in the counting machine. It took all but about 15 zincolns which were not even identifiable as coins.
 

Treasure_Hunter

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Sounds like you clean the pennies with the other coins, always clean pennies separately.
 

Grizz12

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Find a cloth bag and toss them in your washer with the rest of your laundry. I used to do that with my brass before loading and it worked great
 

Diggin-N-Dumps

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What are you trying to “fix” as long as it’s clean and makes it they a machine, I don’t care if they are all black
 

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I do not believe you will have any problem at the Coinstar machine.

You could always hand roll them if you have the time or just start spending clad.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting! :icon_thumleft:
 

A2coins

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Tumbler with salt and lemon juice amazing pennies do by them selves
 

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