Mineral Oil to Clean Large Cents?

[Metdet49]

I hate to bring up yet another cleaning question, but does anyone have any experience with soaking coins in mineral oil to help clean coins? In particular I would like to know if this is a good way to clean non key date copper large cents. Supposedly it is better than using olive oil in that it doesn't darken the coin as much. I don't want to do any damage to the coins, but I want to loosen some of the crud to gently remove with a cue tip or toothpick to hopefully reveal more detail.

I know you have to be careful with cleaning any coin and some coins you shouldn't clean at all, but I am hoping to find a good, non invasive way to make the coins more displayable.

Thanks.

 

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[Jimmi]

Just do what I did with my first silver the other day. I took a dremil to it and scalped Washington.. Lol

 

[BryanM362]

Just do what I did with my first silver the other day. I took a dremil to it and scalped Washington.. Lol

That's ok Holly, I found this really ornate, old, iron fence. I accidentally cut it into 4 pieces with my angel grinder....

 

[hunter_46356]

Metdet49 I have used olive oil on wheat cents and one very corroded IH just to see if it would work and it does but took along time. Used a wood skewer and every couple days work away the loose stuff. They say mineral oil is less acidic but with the olive oil I didn't notice any damage to the coins that wasn't all ready there. Don't have any experience with using a Power tools on vintage coins l but would highly suggest against it. But I'm sure I don't have to tell you that.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Olive oil works very well on old coins, and even old iron and steel items. I found a really old jaw trap in the woods, and the olive oil worked really well on it too.

 

[hunter_46356]

In fact don't know if I ever seen or heard of silver coming out of the ground that would need aggressive cleaning. Every Silver I've ever dug needed nothing but some good old soap and water and maybe a baking soda bath to make it shine like new. I'd start with the mineral oil (less acid) see if that works.

 

[PhilBarnett]

If you want to preserve the value of the coin do as minimal cleaning as possible. I am a coin collect first of all before a hunter . The best way to clean them is let them soak in pure virgin olive oil for a day or two or even weeks. Then wash them off with soft cotton cloth but do not rub them if you possible avoid it and that will cause you to loose the values of the coin quicker then any thing. For very stubborn coins if you have to go the extra use acetone or fingernail polish remover. Let the soak about 10 minutes then clean with a. Q tip. The coin is not worth finding if you are going to destroy the value. Do not scrub with a brash brush or steel wool.

 

[Metdet49]

Thanks to all for the responses. I was hoping to here that mineral oil was an effective, non damaging way to clean copper coins. I have used olive oil in the past with some pretty good results, but it does darken the coins somewhat.

 

[PhilBarnett]

I hate to use any thing on my coins as I am a collector. But somethimes there is no choice but to clean up a bit on those that come out of the ground. But o e thing for sure is not to rub and scratch them up as this will defiantly kill the value. Watching videos of people hacking with there digging tools and rubbing on the coins really gets to me as you never know how valuable a coin is as there are so many variables that coins can have. You never know when your going to pick up that 1000.00 coin or even more value. Conservation is a must for these old coins.

 

[PhilBarnett]

Hunter is right on the silver coins as they normally don't need much cleaning. Always start with soap and water first before considering cleaning with any thing else.

 

[scotty544]

I have some Indian Heads that I am going to try olive oil on. Also if a coin is really corroded their isn't much worry about damaging the value is there? I have a couple Indians that you can barely tell that they are Indians.

 

[PhilBarnett]

I have some Indian Heads that I am going to try olive oil on. Also if a coin is really corroded their isn't much worry about damaging the value is there? I have a couple Indians that you can barely tell that they are Indians.

You will be surprised how soaking a coin will remove the corrosion. If your not a collector there is not much worry but as a collector cleaning coins is a no no. Conserving the coin is different than cleaning as a lot of people that collect coins for value will tell you. If it a rare coin and valuable yes damage is a big factor in keeping the value. It's unreal how people can damage and destroy a coin with unorthodox methods of cleaning. Silver coins you want to be really careful with as it doesn't take much to get them looking good with out damaging.

 

[PhilBarnett]

I have some Indian Heads that I am going to try olive oil on. Also if a coin is really corroded their isn't much worry about damaging the value is there? I have a couple Indians that you can barely tell that they are Indians.

I have in the neighbor hood of probably 7 to 800 thousand coins and I use a microscope on coins that I am grading. Some of use are very serious about our coins especially UN circulated coins. There are a lot of coins that have come out of the ground that are very valuable.

 

[scotty544]

I have in the neighbor hood of probably 7 to 800 thousand coins and I use a microscope on coins that I am grading. Some of use are very serious about our coins especially UN circulated coins. There are a lot of coins that have come out of the ground that are very valuable.

Damn that's alot of coinage brotha man!

 

[PhilBarnett]

Yea it is my kids are going to hate me when I die and they have to either learn about coins or take a loss in not doing so. But if they take the time to learn what all I have it should reward them well. That's probably 20% silver and 80 % wheats. Lol. I got a lot of wheats. Hahaha

 

[scotty544]

Jeesh that's a crap load of wheats. Like 550000 wheats..!! OMG!

 

[PhilBarnett]

Yep it is. I got bags, coffee cans, jars and boxes full. 5000 weighs as I remember about 34 lbs or maybe that's 54 not sure as it be a long time since I messed with the wheats.

 

[scotty544]

Yep it is. I got bags, coffee cans, jars and boxes full. 5000 weighs as I remember about 34 lbs or maybe that's 54 not sure as it be a long time since I messed with the wheats.

That's really neat. I hope you got all the key dates out.

 

[63bkpkr]

If you absolutely Must clean a coin, especially a corroded copper, then I've found that a heavy duty penetrating oil like Kroil will do the job IF you allow the coin to soak long enough. The Kroil will remove the corrosion and that will cause pitting on copper or most any coin that is corroded. But if you must then you must...........................63bkpkr

 

[Metdet49]

Thanks all. I decided to just let it soak in olive oil for a while to see what that does.