Cleaning Coins With An Orbital Sander

Alright guys, off topic. We were having a discussion on how to properly clean and conserve coins properly

 

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Maybe not expensive coins but you never know. Children are very impressionable.

 

A better and more affordable idea than what has been posted before would be to send em through the rock tumbler, then buff em up. Nice and cheap, and as long as you don't look at them much, you could give yourself the illusion that they were MS70. but if there happens to be a dent, well... :hammer:. Also, might I suggest you take the best ones and put holes in them. You could wear them, or make glasses to look out of liberty's eye's.ld-guy-smile: There is some truly great advise on this thread:rolling:

 

I feel like I killed this thread, so now by my (very little/nonexistent) authority, this thread shalt be revived.

 

cant believe I didnt make this comment before


Lets burry some treasure!

 

First use mild cleaning agents like acetone, then if that doesn't work, try an ultrasonic cleaner with increasingly effective solutions and/or cleaning agents, I hear NCS uses jewel luster at high temperatures, I don't know if anyone has tried doing that in a 50G or greater confined space.

Coin doctors use extremely toxic chemicals like mercury compounds, arsenic, and so forth to tone gold, which should always be considered as an option but requires a gas mask.

Lastly, certainly orbital sanders have their place, as well as vices, ball-peen hammers, screw drivers, hack-saws, muriatic, nitric, and sulfuric acids. Of course the coin doctors know all the tricks--but don't expect them to share them here!

 

i am going to make myself a holder so i can put a coin in it.
On the tires of my car i am going to put some sanding paper.
Then i am going to place the holder on my car so that it hits the tire.
I think after a drive of an hour the coin will be clean enough

 

Yeah, that would spell "company suicide" if they leaked out the trade secrets.

 

Has Allen Stockton ever shared his methods in print?

 

you wouldn't want to scuff it though, so you would have to rub it off a good bit to get off the black color, so tie a towel to the tire:devil:

 

...

 

I use a bazooka

 

In remembrance, that post you quoted holds my first ever "like".

 

Wow i would think this would tare the coin apart, glad you were able to make it work for you... I'm sure its only really practical for large amounts of hard to remove crud.

 

I'd lock up this thread

 

Yeah.....sad.

 

I stopped in at the biggest coin shop in the area yesterday to get an opinion on my 1917 type I SL quarter that PCGS had no-graded because of peripheral heavy toning, that overwise is MS64 FH IMO. The "expert" said he would not want to use something to remove it himself, jokingly said that steel wool would do the trick. I sent it to NCS, overwise I might have tried EZ coin cleaner diluted.

 

Hilarity!!

FUNNY!! Your nom de plume is perfect for this thread, which had me in stitches, because I'm certain I know your assistant, who allows me to appreciate that often participation in life is far too serious.

My day was seemingly in shambles after a hired assistant failed to arrive or call, and I started a critical plumbing job alone when a controller in a wall failed, spraying water everywhere without a local "shut-off" valve. I finally plugged the offending source, "cleaned up", turned on the computer, and your post caught my eye.

Thanks for the attitude adjustment, and "making my day". I hope others also enjoy your refreshing approach. :thumb:

 

Agree.

There seems to be an aversion in the general public against "toned" or original coins. People want bright, shiny colorful, "beautiful" objects not as nature produces. Those who have damaged the best and most classic coins are true idiots in the most profound sense.

 

Speaking of cleaning coins, I remember seeing an article maybe 10-15 years ago about a casino in Vegas that cleaned all the quarters they used to stock their slot machines. They wanted their customers to receive nice shiny quarters whenever they hit a jackpot.

They used some sort of solvent and steel ball bearings in an industrial size agitator to clean them...

When I saw that video years back, I couldn't help wondering how many 90% and 40% silver coins passed through there.