Cleaning coins?

Yes to soaking, in distilled water, then air-dry. Optionally, after (or instead of) doing that, you can soak them in pure acetone (NOT nail polish remover, acetone from a hardware store).

NO wiping. You can pat dry with a soft cloth, but air-drying is better.

If it's oils you're worried about, acetone is your best bet (or xylene).

 

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One of he safest solvents to use is DMSO. It will remove oils and gunk without affecting luster. Acetone is scary unless you are able to get GC/MS grade or better. Otherwise there are things in it that can leave a residue.

 

If you want to remove pvc, Methylene chloride is your best bet. Remember, like dissolves like. A chlorinated solvent like Methylene chloride, Chloroform or Carbon tetrachloride work great - you just need to be careful with disposal, though most of it evaporates like Acetone.

 

These have all gotten much harder to find (thank goodness, at least in the case of carbon tet).

Whereas DMSO will haul the dissolved gunk straight through your skin into your body. No, thank you!

I've never heard of using DMSO on coins, and I would assume it's for safety (because it's so aggressive at penetrating human skin). Do you seriously use it as a general-purpose solvent? To me, acetone seems considerably safer, and given its low surface tension (which makes it run off very quickly and thoroughly), I can't imagine residue would be a big problem -- unless you let your coin sit in a bowl of acetone until it all evaporates.

 

Acetone will absorb through your skin too. The difference between Acetone and DMSO is that one is toxic. Because DMSO has the ability to be absorbed through the skin, the same properties make it useful for removing organic junk off of coins. It is much less harsh than other organic solvents and is miscible in water, so you can rinse it off easily after using it. It is great for removing any oils that may be on the surface of copper (like olive or mineral oil) without the potential for changing the color.

 

Hm. No danger that it might be reduced to a sulfur compound that could discolor coins?

 

What a lively debate!..... I think what’s being overlooked here.... A person that is starting a collection wants glistening examples of the historical pieces they have fallen in love with. Who hasn’t sat and polished a cent with a pencil eraser in kindergarten class? The issue that is remiss here is that act of polishing is exactly the act that damages the piece..... Learn to love and appreciate the history that dull and grungy appearance represents. All the hands of pioneers, settlers, soldiers that may have added to the years of wear. Really, unless a coin has been dug up from eons in the Earth, likely the best course of action is to appreciate the history that grungy appearance represents.

 

Good point. On the other hand, there is a story about a famous numismatist/grader/auction house owner who bought a historically "dull" old dollar, dipped it to restore its beauty and increased its value extremely significantly.

 

Pretty sure there's several stories of that going the other way too

 

Not to mention the story of the guy who mistook his dip glass for his soda glass...

 

Exactly what are you melting?

 

It is not me that wants to clean a coin as i know better...It is Gloria 92D...Something tells me she was born in 1992 and has a collection from some of her elerly members of the family...The other elderly members knew better than to clean a coin and left it in the original state however i feel Gloria wants it nice ans shiny and does not care less if it takes any of the value away...That is my hunch!!~

 

Why do you want to know???

 

We don't hear about those!

 

With all due respect, your posts suggest that you may not "know" as much as you seem to think, but still, I haven't the faintest idea why you felt the need to respond as if I was talking to you.

The OP is clearly new to this, so we can either try to help educate or needlessly belittle her. I'll go with the former.

 

He’s curious what you’re destroying

 

Yes I was born in 92 no I don’t want to clean coins that were handed down to me I understand they shouldn’t be cleaned. Especially when I have no experience in cleaning coins. I do not want them shinny clean. My bf wanted to wipe of the coins before placing them in a 2by2 and I told him it could ruin the value not to touch them but he wants to get rid of any finger prints or oils from handling them before we place them in the 2 by 2 and was simply just wondering if we could do any easy process like use a glasses soft cloth to wipe them without harming them any. As an example he found the double struck rotated penny I posted. About awhile ago. That’s prob worth something. We also wanted to save the wheat cents as well. Neither are completely corroded with gunk we can see the designs well, but from handling them and going through a 5 gallon bucket of penny’s I didn’t know if oils from are hands and suc could effect them in the long run with placing them in the 2by2 fold.

 

Curious. Never have heard of someone melting down a coin collection because he doesn’t think future generations will collect.

 

With my own experience, anything to the value of $5 and under is not worth placing in a 2x2 fold...You will just waste your money on the stationery. There is no easy process on cleaning a coin...The worst thing is the lettering of the coin...Once the olive oil has been placed on the coin, it is hard to get out of the lettering... I am extremely surprised someone of your age ( like my daughter ) is really interested in nusmisatics....but i guess there are the few exceptions.
Dont do anything to the coins...[Image deleted to prevent copyright infringement]

 

Attn santinidollar....I guess you have, now havnt you!!!!