Whats the Best way to clean a wheat penny

[RTR]

Going through a pile of them,that I put away almost 50 years ago.... Clean them,Just enough so I can make out the dates...thanks

 

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[Rawhide]

Don't. But I gently tumble most of my clad in dish soap. Thats when I find they are wheaties lol.

 

[RTR]

Light Circular motion with eraser (over the date) is doing the trick.

 

[l.cutler]

Light Circular motion with eraser (over the date) is doing the trick.

Don't do that to any with any value!

 

[enamel7]

A lot of bad advice being given. Gentle rub with dish soap is ok, but better would be hot peroxide bath and a little soak in pure acetone is good.

 

[RTR]

Bottom line, IF the date is unreadable IT has NO value

 

[RTR]

Eraser > https://treasurepursuits.com/best-way-to-clean-pennies/
>> https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/ways-to-clean-pennies-4151742

 

[RTR]

A little experiment.
Here are (2) 1971 pennies I put away back in 71.

I put one in a mixture of backing soda & water for 10 minutes.

And the other,in pure lemon juice for 10 minutes.

The end results.

 

[RTR]

71s before & after lemon bath.

 

[sagittarius98]

The coins looked fine originally in my opinion, but for 71 cents it doesn't matter because they are only worth their weight in copper.

 

[enamel7]

Lemon juice is an acid. They may look fine at first, but they will tone ugly over time.

 

[enamel7]

Making coins "shiny" doesn't increase value.

 

[RTR]

Making coins "shiny" doesn't increase value.

I don't think I said it did.

 

[RTR]

Lemon juice is an acid. They may look fine at first, but they will tone ugly over time.

Time will tell.Right now their in a vacuum

 

[Dozer D]

When I clean coins, I just use a Rx bottle big enough for the coin(s), then add a few drops of DAWN liquid soap, add hot tap water, cover, shake, let stand for two days (shaking randomly during those two days), risen with hot tap water, pat dry with soft cloth. Does not make them sparkle, but removes all the oily dirty grime. Try it on some dirty coins to be recycled, you'll see the difference.

 

[l.cutler]

You can certainly do as you like with your own coins, but an eraser is a very damaging method of cleaning. I have found coins with an unreadable date that after a careful cleaning turned out to be quite valuable.