Improperly cleaned coins

[DIGDIG]

I see coins slabbed as improperly cleaned, I know coins should never be cleaned but it had me wonder is there a proper way, or people that do this to restore a coin? I've seen coins in bad tarnish or caked with dirt, whats worse- improperly cleaned or somewhat coins you cant identify?

 

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[Dixiegal]

You pay to have them professionally cleaned.

 

[waseeker]

Today cleaning coins is considered a bad thing but that hasn't always been the case. Back in the 60's and 70's coins were routinely cleaned to remove dirt and/or tarnish/toning. There were even ads in the trade papers for coin doctors who promised to fill holed coins and re-engrave missing letters with the promise that their work was undetectable.

After the advent of 3rd party grading and slabbing these folks were looking for ways to promote their services (and generate income). Because they were trying to build a reputation and to protect their guarantees, the TPG folks would reject (body bag) any coin they considered suspicious. As market demand for slabbed coins increased, there were less and less "original" coins available to be slabbed so the TPG folks started slabbing suspicious (but genuine) coins, with notations such as cleaned, suspicious surfaces, altered surfaces, etc. That gave them another revenue stream.

Like the old adage of "he who has the gold makes the rules", consider the case of the treasure recovered from one of the ship wrecks. I think it was the USS Central America. Tons of Double Eagles were recovered from the wreck. And although gold doesn't tarnish they were covered with marine growth. NGC working with the salvage folks developed a method of removing the growth without damaging the surfaces of the coins. They were then slabbed and offered to the market place as Mint State coins. This of course created a lot of controversy since the coins had been cleaned. However NGC replied that the coins were not cleaned they were merely conserved. The double eagles were released slowly into the market so as not to depress the price with a glut of them hitting the market at one time. This eventually opened up a new revenue stream for them since they now offer a conservation service to "curate" your problem coins so that they can be slabbed without the dreaded cleaned/altered or suspicious surface designation.

Back to your original question. Unless a coin is a key or semi-key date or because of condition is scarce/rare for the series (think MS 66 Franklin Half Dollars for example) you probably won't hurt the value by gentle cleaning to remove dirt.

This is a very abbreviated discussion and reflects my personal opinion based on years of watching and being involved in the coin market. In the final analysis we all have to decide for our self.

 

[Wildcat1750]

Interesting thread.