Good afternoon all, As a new enthusiast, I have a seemingly simple question. Should a coin be cleaned or left alone? I have happened across an old Whitman book of Indian Head pennies that have been partially cleaned. It must have been done by a kid or something because the only word to describe them is Ugly. It appears as though they were left in the book and only the center of the obverse was cleaned leaving a horrible looking blackish ring around the perimeter of the coins. My limited understanding is that this renders them practically valueless to most collectors. So, do I carefully clean them or leave them as they are. The only other thing I can think of is (tongue.in cheek) is to bury them in the back yard for a year or two to 'crummy' them up a bit. If the consensus is to clean them, which methodology should be employed to minimize further damage to these pieces? Thanks for any advice offered.
Personally, I would never clean a coin. That said, and IF they have already been cleaned and you simply can't stand the look of them, maybe a "dip" would help.
I find your description of the "cleaning" to be rather interesting. Would it be possible for you to post a few detailed photos of the, or at least a few of the coins?
I don't have a very good camera, but here's a low quality shot that shows what they look like in general. Thanks to all of you for the sound advice.
There are lots of "dips" for silver coins, but I don't know if I ever heard of one for copper. Copper is an odd beastie to clean. Applying something like Brasso or other copper cleaners could possibly be done if you don't scrub it around so as to leave abbrasion marks. After cleaning the copper appears un-naturally bright, so you either have to apply a darkening agent or allow it to re-tone on its own.
Cleaning copper will get you no where, it's a waste of time and coin. I would remove them all from the folder and put them in a window sill for a year or two (with occasional flipping). Better to have a toned-down, cleaned coin than a bright, shiny one.
I believe what you have is a group of coins that was originally thoroughly cleaned and then placed into an album that allowed the rims of the coins to oxidize faster than the centers. Hence, you have coins that look to the untrained eye to be cleaned in the centers only. They have already seen their value largely destroyed if cleaned, but you will harm them even more if you abuse them further. Leave them alone and sell them if they bother you.
