yet another question about cleaning

[twinsrule]

I know there've been billons of questions regarding cleaning coins and other finds here, but i just wondered what the limit to cleaning is? Soap and water? Until now, i have only used water. Is soap ok to use too?
Thanks.

 

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[Woodland Detectors]

That's a good question.
Of course you can use mild soap.
The coil is engulfed with epoxy and protected.
I know guys who run coils detecting w//o coil covers.

I would be more concerned with the wire coming from the coil all the way to the control box.
Wire fatigue is common with abuse and is kind of a pain to fix.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

With the timidity of "water" and "soap" (which are both EXTREMELY timid), you must be smitten with the old adage "Never clean your coins!". This saying must've been born out of horror stories of persons cleaning grandpas gold coins with ajax or whatever.

The truth is, it's a matter of HOW you clean them. Because for the kind of junk we md'rs sometimes find, you will get laughed out of a coin store, or anywhere when/if trying to sell.

Consider the following true example: There was a detecting mag. story many years ago, about an east coast hunter who had a few dozen large cents he'd detected over the years. He had never cleaned them (keeping with the old addage) aside from perhaps plain water rinse or whatever. One day, he decided to sell off some of his collection, so he took them all to a coin store that advertised that they bought/sold coins. He figured some of them must have value, because he could see from the coin books that a few of them were better dates, etc....

But when he got to the coin store and showed them his stuff, they nearly laughed him out of the store, telling him his coins were cruddy, caked, etc..... and offering him a mere pittance on a few others. So he asked them: "If I clean them up, then will you consider them?" They SHUDDERED, bristled and told him "NEVER clean your coins. That's an absolute no-no. If you do that, we will CERTAINLY never buy them".

The dejected md'r left the store, figuring all he had was value-less junk. He figured that he might as well get them looking better for some home display trays though, so he set about studying all the different methods for cleaning copper coins, w/o leaving any trace of the effort. After going through all the different pro's & con's for each method, solution, etc.... and after trying out various ones on common IH's and his common large cents, he settled on a way that seemed to leave no trace of effort.

After about a year, the man decided he would take these same coins back to the same coin store, to have them take another look. When he got there, he did not remind him he'd been in there a year earlier, nor did he tell them the coins had been cleaned. He was waited on by the same desk clerk ....... who apparently did not remember the earlier visit either. THIS TIME the dealer started offering higher prices, right off the bat. Doh!

I forget which cleaning method the fellow settled on, but the moral of this story is, that whenever you read/hear of someone saying "never clean your coins" (as no doubt someone will come on this thread telling you that very thing), you can see that this advice is not always right.

 

[Hill Billy]

That's a good question.
Of course you can use mild soap.
The coil is engulfed with epoxy and protected.
I know guys who run coils detecting w//o coil covers.

I would be more concerned with the wire coming from the coil all the way to the control box.
Wire fatigue is common with abuse and is kind of a pain to fix.

Dang 4H he's talking coins not coils. LOL

 

[Iron Patch]

That's a good question.
Of course you can use mild soap.
The coil is engulfed with epoxy and protected.
I know guys who run coils detecting w//o coil covers.

I would be more concerned with the wire coming from the coil all the way to the control box.
Wire fatigue is common with abuse and is kind of a pain to fix.

Dang 4H he's talking coins not coils. LOL

I clean my coins more than I do my coils!

 

[limegoldconvertible68]

For most coins you can handle them just about anyway you want to. Its the key and semi key dates that you need to be careful with. In my area of the country all coppers are corroded terribly and I just run them through and tumbler and am done with them. An 1877 Indian Head or something with a easily readable date that commands a premium price, yeah I might handle differently. Its the silver coins that require different handling. In the field I am very careful to not rub the dirt off until I know what kind of coin it is. The common silver coins that are only good for melt value you can do anything you want with but if its a variety that has rare dates than I only hold them by the edge and run water over them until I can make out the date. If it is a coin that has collector value(as opposed to melt value) than I don't even use soap and water. A good collector will be able to tell right away that it was cleaned(by the abrasions left from rubbing) and devalue it right away.