Re: help [how do you clean your coins and jewelry?]
I clean my jewelry with a soft toothbrush and original tooth paste (not the abrasive stuff) or soak in ammonia unless it has a soft gemstone attached (dont soak soft gemstones).
I've read in other posts to soak coins in A-1 steak sauce, ketchup, or just leave them be so they dont disintegrate. I don't have experience with coins.
Clay, the sad fact is that most of what you'll find nowdays
is clad coins or zinc pennies which are not worth keeping
unless you find an error coin. If you want to spiff up your
dirty coins you can tie them up in a sock and run them thru
you clothes washer a time or two. Its best to keep pennies
together, nickles separate and clad dimes & quarters also.
You just want to get the dirt and grime off so they will get
thru the Coinstar machine to give you bills. If your coins
are heavy with caked dirt the machine will spit them out.
If you do find a nice coin especially a key date coin don't
do anything until you go to the Preservation Forum to post
a good photo. If a member tells you leave it alone don't
try to clean it at all. You might ruin the value.
Educate yourself on coin values. Get the latest Yeoman's
Red Book from Hastings or another book store and look up
your finds so you'll know what to keep in your collection.