Cleaning coins

[lFoundlInlOhiol]

Was metal detecting the other day.Guy next door said that soaking coins in vinegar would clean them!! Is what he said true? And will it hurt the value of the coins?

 

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[Farmercal]

clad = tumbler
copper or silver = soap and water with a tooth brush, anything more could ruin the value.

 

[el_gral]

clad = tumbler
copper or silver = soap and water with a tooth brush, anything more could ruin the value.

I would even stay away from the toothbrush, on more valuable coins since they can leave hairline scratches on the surface.

 

[lFoundlInlOhiol]

Is it even worth the Trouble to clean Clad?

I was going to do it myself then I thought I'd just use it for the Parking Meters, Tolls,
and just keep a small jar in the car.
and try and use up all the clad before a store could Replenish it with more...

funny thing been using mine in pop machines lol

 

[Spidey]

I clean 'em up enough so you can see what they are easily. It's only a few hours in the tumbler on even the dirtiest ones.

Then, they go in a jar. My wife has already decided that at the end of the season it's buying her dinner.

 

[detectordave]

I put my corroded pennies in the stamp machine here at work. It takes almost anything and if you put in the price of a stamp, plus a dollar, it gives you a stamp and a new golden dollar coin. The few pennies it wont take, usually just take a rub between the palms to knock the big stuff off. Im sure the post office machines are the same, but our machine is secluded, giving you time to put in 3 bazzilion pennies, without dirty looks. :O) Hh dave.

 

[BioProfessor]

Only 2 rules for cleaning coins:

1- Don't clean your coins
2 - Refer to #1

Seriously, you need to KNOW what the coins is before attempting ANY cleaning. For cruddy coins, olive oil soaking is the easiest on the coin. For most coins a swish in some warm soapy water, rinse with distilled water if possible (gallon is cheap at the market) and carefully PAT dry. Do not RUB - wet, dry, oily, or anywhere in between.

If, after this, you can definitely determine what the coin is and if it has significant value, treat the coin accordingly. If it is nothing really worth more than face, it can probably be cleaned and spent or displayed. If it has significant value, stop. Contact several coin dealers for advice on cleaning services or having it graded uncleaned. If it is a really good coin and it comes back from the grading service labeled "Cleaned" you might as well spend it.

Daryl

 

[Nashoba]

I clean 'em up enough so you can see what they are easily. It's only a few hours in the tumbler on even the dirtiest ones.

Then, they go in a jar. My wife has already decided that at the end of the season it's buying her dinner.

I was informed that on my mini-vacation next weekend I could use my clad to buy her a nice dinner at a restaurant on the coast overlooking the ocean....I wonder if they take change!? LMAO

~Nash~

 

[Spidey]

funny how they do that.

I'm trying to convince her that if I got a Garrett Ace 250 I'd find even more to put in the dinner fund....but it hasn't gone too well yet.

 

[Green1]

a friend of mine used the hot peroxide method,,,,, ruined a key date indian...... now he has a small copper coin,, istead of a $ 50-70 coin.....i'm a firm beliver in spit,,,,,,,,,,,silver,coppers....
let the copper coins air dry for 3-4 days and give it a shot

 

[BioProfessor]

The distilled water is just the safest way to rinse a real valuable coin. You shouldn't really rub it to dry it and if you've washed all the dirt off it and have a heavy mineral content in your water, it will leave a film on it. Just a precaution if you might have a coin that could be affected by "water spots." Distilled water has no minerals (unless you buy drinking water, they put the minerals back for taste) and won't spot when allowed to air dry. Probably a little over cautious but it's the safest.

Daryl

 

[cosmic]

Yes to the distilled.. Thats what we used in the lab to rinse the glassware...
Ray

 

[BuckleBoy]

First off, I NEVER field clean a silver coin. It has spent a hundred or more years in the ground waiting for me to find it, and I think I can wait until I get home to know what it is. I drop it in an old plastic medicine bottle filled with cotton balls (dirt and all) and put it in my pocket and continue the hunt. (But I do take my cleaning kit with me on my hunts.)

To clean silver, I use a small camel's hair make-up brush (which will not create even tiny scratches if you use it gently on the coin to coax the dirt off it) and hard running water (make sure the drain is plugged though!). The water will blast most of the dirt off without scratching the coin. You can make this step more effective by soaking the coin for a while beforehand. Then use the make-up brush to remove the rest gently while keeping the water running the whole time on the surface of the coin.

For high-grade silver coins that still have mint luster, I also use distilled water as a final rinse. Then after they are dry, they go in hard plastic coin holders. One rub with the thumb or a toothbrush on an old, high-grade coin can drop the value by hundreds of dollars. Get a 15x magnifying glass and angle such cleaned coins at a light source and you'll see the hundreds of tiny polish or "whizz" marks on them.

Now, usually I chime in on a thread like this and someone tells me that it is their business what they do with their coins. True. They usually say that they aren't going to sell them, but rather keep them. O.K. So that means that when their children or their children's children sell them, they will get much less for the coins because of a mistake that their grandpa made. I don't understand what the big deal is about not being willing to take a moment and preserve an item's value. Pride!! Silly.

Hope this helps,

Buckleboy

 

[MissyW72]

It's my business what I do with my coins!!

JK, sorry I couldn't resist!

 

[Born2Dtect]

This kind of reminds me of the question; If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it does it make a sound? OK now to make my point. I have never found let alone ruined a coin worth anything over $10.00. I clean them with soap , water , and a soft worn out tooth brush until I can ID them. I have tried, vinegar, olive oil, WD 40, and other assorted coin cleaners. Most without good results, no harm but not much cleaning either. I really don,t worry about cleaning my coins, if you cannot identify them they are not worth anything anyway, I will always clean them to see what I have.

Ed D.

 

[cosmic]

Ed, don't you mean, if a man speaks in the woods and no women is there to hear him, is his is he still wrong?? !!!
Ray

 

[BuckleBoy]

This kind of reminds me of the question; If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it does it make a sound? OK now to make my point. I have never found let alone ruined a coin worth anything over $10.00. I clean them with soap , water , and a soft worn out tooth brush until I can ID them. I have tried, vinegar, olive oil, WD 40, and other assorted coin cleaners. Most without good results, no harm but not much cleaning either. I really don,t worry about cleaning my coins, if you cannot identify them they are not worth anything anyway, I will always clean them to see what I have.

Ed D.

You'll notice that my post above refers only to silver coins, which seldom come out of the ground with corrosion of any kind. So I just want to make that distinction. I clean my coppers with a gentle brushing with a toothbrush at times too. I always try just a plain old water soak first. But I agree with you about needing to be able to ID them first. Silver is another animal entirely.

Buckleboy

 

[kindafoundabuckle]

This kind of reminds me of the question; If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it does it make a sound? OK now to make my point. I have never found let alone ruined a coin worth anything over $10.00. I clean them with soap , water , and a soft worn out tooth brush until I can ID them. I have tried, vinegar, olive oil, WD 40, and other assorted coin cleaners. Most without good results, no harm but not much cleaning either. I really don,t worry about cleaning my coins, if you cannot identify them they are not worth anything anyway, I will always clean them to see what I have.

Ed D.

You'll notice that my post above refers only to silver coins, which seldom come out of the ground with corrosion of any kind. So I just want to make that distinction. I clean my coppers with a gentle brushing with a toothbrush at times too. I always try just a plain old water soak first. But I agree with you about needing to be able to ID them first. Silver is another animal entirely.

Buckleboy

I clean my coins with a grinder

 

[outraged]

One suggestion i would make is keep a jar of distilled water or olive oil with you in your pouch. Old coins that have been in the ground for many years are accustomed to being damp. When they dry out it is much harder to clean them properly. If you place them in either the water or olive oil they will STAY moist until you get home where you can properly identify and rinse them. I think that this is the best way to handle them.


Thats my 4 cents.
outraged-

 

[Born2Dtect]

I agree silver comes out of the ground in generally better condition.

I have read where I believe Jeff of PA has a bottle of soapy water to put coin finds in.

I have noticed that copper starts to degrade as soon as it hits the air. In this case olive oil in a bottle may help.

Where do you hunt that you have to use a grinder on them?

I read an article once that was technical but made a lot of sense. It dealt with the PH of items we use to clean them. You use something with a PH higher and lower than water. Always returning to distilled water and a PH of 7. I wish I could remember it. Coin cleaning from a chemist point of view. It was dead on.

Ed D.