Just looking for opinions here. Should I clean my wheat pennies that I plan on putting into albums? I would probably give them to kids/grandkids in the future so would the value be cut in half?
In general you should not clean coins. If you must use the least abrasive method. For wheats I soak them in alcohol for a little bit then distilled water. I then gently blot them dry with a cotton cloth then let them air dry. That gets rid of the dirt without effecting the appearance of them.
Wondering. If you are wanting good looking coins ( wheat pennies ) to pass down through the generations. Why not get good quality coins instead of old crappy ones you can find and then clean them? Wheat cents in high grades arent very exspensive, except for the key dates.
Cleaning can absolutely diminish a coin's value. It's a general rule in numismatics to never clean your coins. I agree with the post that I've quoted. It would be ideal to buy higher grades in the first place.
Do you want your grandkids to end up with coins that have more value (buy nicer coins), a little value (leave circulation coins uncleaned), or only face value (clean them)?
