Cleaning your coins.

on my silver dime there is a dark black "smudge". Its like dirt and i don't want to rub it because it will scratch the coin i just want to "disinegrate it" repeatedly dipping it in the water. Is this ok guys? Thanx for the help.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

oh and another question, is dipping ok when a coin that is beginning to toin also has some dark black crap on it, is it a good idea, i don't know whats in the black dirt crap and i am worried it will start oxidizing the coin, eventually digging pits in it.

 

Great timing on this subject, as I have just cashed in my Father's Day gift certificate and bought a 1903 Morgan that I've had my eye on for a while. As soon as I figure out how, I'll post pictures of it, but for the life of me I can't figure out if this coin has been cleaned or it's just in amazing condition. What is generally used to examine coins for the presence of minute scratches? Will a magnifying glass suffice? Just got the coin yesterday and my curiosity is piqued by all this coin-cleaning talk.

 

I have a very interested idea...I am planning to make a pump that runs distilled water through a clean tube, this tube releases the water over a dirty coin. The "contaminated water" is collected in a small basin. I thought of this because one can only be so patient to dip a coin in water over and over again. Anyone think this is a good way of cleaning dirt and crap like that of coins?

 

Someone is going to take you seriously!
But, then again.......

 

This is a great thread with a lot of useful information. Thank you to all who have shared.

Robert
Edited: Self promotion is not allowed here.

 

I have had slabbed (not PCGS, ANACS or NGC) MS... coins rejected for cross-over grading by NGC because of "cleaning or excessive cleaning". I do own a stero microscope. How can I tell if a Peace Dollar has been cleaned? Larry

 

Larry:
Frequently the big 3 TPG'ers reject a lot of pieces because they are currently in another slab.
How can you tell?
Practice, practice, practice.
Seriously, there are many times that I think that a piece is good and later find out that it was cleaned.

 

Post #1 and I know I will annoy a few people. This is really meant to get you to think things thru. It's like the "zero Tolerance" crap in schools. There are always odd circumstances that make exceptions to rules. To those of you who say "thou shall never clean a coin or be damned for eternity." I say I agree with you most of the time. If we are talking about a coin worth a few times common silver for instance I probably won't clean it. But a common date mercury dime that is close to slick, You aren't going to hurt it. A 16-D that is dark and barely readable.........you will hurt that one.

All I am asking is when you give these absolute answers you will gain more respect and credibility by qualifying your answer instead of discussing grits of sandpaper and wire wheels. It comes off as degrading.

 

Coffee can of wheats clean?

Ok I just purchased a bunch of 20s-30s wheats that my dealer purchased from a guy that had them in a coffee can. I payed only a nickel each and most I notice are S and D mints but really dirty and some light rust. I was told by the dealer who sold me some coin care cleaner that they would clean up, at least most of them. He showed me at the shop and sure enough they did. He told me he was not going to clean them all as there are 10 rolls of them so he sold them to me. He used a q-tip and acknlowledge that they would show signs of cleaning. I know not to clean coins and so does the dealer but both agree what else are you going to do. Some of the 28s really look good cleaned up. So I guess what would you do let them sit barely ledgable date wise and further rust, sell them quick or clean them as per my dealer.

 

That he is an honest dealer. I know for a fact that i can sell some for at least a buck each, some even more now that i look at some cleaned. Now would I do that no not without letting the person know, but they can sure make some good looking hole fillers at a great price. If i ever get a camera i will post pictures.

 

I guess then we go back to my original question. What would you do with soiled coins?

 

I have been thinking about the cleaning issue lately. I can easily understand why an original coin would be more desirable (read more expensive) than a cleaned coin. But why should cleaning completely disqualify them from being considered as collectible? Most of the grading companies body bag cleaned coins - i.e. they think they should not be collected. Can anyone explain this?

 

You see here is where the difference lies, we have millions of collectors collecting thousands of different ways. I collect for the fun of collecting and just want to fill up an album so if it is cleaned no big deal to me. In fact I would rather have a nice looking cleaned one in the spot then a dirty one. I am not worried about the damage and loss of value of a $1.00 coin as noted I collect for fun. Then again I would never spend alot of money on coins unless I was rich. Coins are just another hobby and I would much rather spend money on fishing equipment then coins, as I would never treat them as an investment. Now this forum is great as I learned alot but we will have to agree that we both don't agree on this whole cleaning thing regarding low cost coins.