How do i clean Wheat Pennies?

[(())RandY(())]

Found 22 Wheats so far this year....About 10 of them you can not see the date! My question is, how do i know they are not key dates, If i dont scatch the dirt off without scratching the coin,What is the best way to clean ((all)) Wheat pennies?

 

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[Sky_Warrior]

You can always use a lite paint brush to just push it off but most cleaning options hurt coins....

 

[Michigan Badger]

Found 22 Wheats so far this year....About 10 of them you can not see the date! My question is, how do i know they are not key dates, If i dont scatch the dirt off without scratching the coin,What is the best way to clean ((all)) Wheat pennies?

If you can't read the dates you don't need to worry about key dates.

Lets do it this way, I'll tell you what I've done for many years now.

Use a rock tumbler with water and aquarium gravel (about 1/3 full in drum).

Tumble about 30 minutes and check for dates.

Most of my wheats take at least an hour.

Never try to make old coins look new by too much tumbling or polishing the bare metal (they always look like cheap fake crap). Try your best to leave that wonderful natural green, blue, etc., on the coin. Just get it smooth so you can better see the detail. But don't go too far. Better not enough cleaning that too much.

Electrolysis always always always leads to pitted nasty crappy looking COPPER coins. Look at those online that were zapped. They all look nasty like the surface of the moon. Ever see a poor dug large cent somebody zapped? They make ya want to hurl! They turn odd colors and are all pitted up. They make excellent sinkers for fishing.

Leave a smooth surface patina on the wheats (or any other copper coins).

When you can read the dates, set aside the key dates, heat the common dates and seal them while hot with Renaissance Wax (sold online). Buff with soft cloth to smooth the wax.

I've done it this way for years and sold copper and bronze coins for big bucks.