I have a couple of questions for someone smarter than me. First, I have heard it is bad to clean coins and I have heard that it is better to clean coins. Can someone clear that up for me? Second, a friend asked me about 2 quarters today and I told him I would post here for y'all's opinion. It looks like they are discolored, both on the head's side. My first thought is to clean them but they are not my coins so I wanted to ask about cleaning them first. I will post a picture of each of them. The pics are a little dark but I couldn't seem to get a clear view of the discoloration. Thank y'all.
Most of the time dark surfaces just means Environmental Damage. Exposure to the elements will cause discoloration... yes even on just one side. On the Cleaning question.. Only coins that a person knows has substantial value should not be cleaned. It could ruin it. But normal circulated coins that you find in pocket change or picked up from the ground or dug up metal detecting can be leaned with mild soap and water... you have to know your coins very well before making the determination to clean or not.
If you are looking to collect coins the answer is DO NOT CLEAN THEM. With that said, if you have a coin that has a small amount of grease, dirt, or other organic material on it, then you can try to soak it off with Acetone. Do not rub or otherwise use anything to scratch off the surface. Can I ask you what the purpose is of collecting a 2013 quarter? Are you filling in a book? Hope this helps.
It does help, thank you. I'm not really collecting, just mainly looking through pocket change for cool, fun, or valuable. These quarters belong to a friend who, at first, insisted they were double die. I got him to see they were not and I told him I would seek out opinions from this forum. I appreciate the information. I would not have thought of acetone. Thanks again!
