Cleaning Coins?

Too long did not read

 

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John, it looks like the previous owner used some tape to stick it to paper or the like... You cannot do any more harm to it as you will see on the other side that the lustre is vanished.... Try soaking it in boiling hot water to make the glue substance softer and then use a toothpick to pick it away bit by bit.... Use kleenex or toilet paper to take off the bits of glue from the toothpick from time to time.... This coins numismatic value has gone so you cannot make it any worse than what it is....OIO

 

Then you obviously dont care as you do not have 5 minutes to spare for yourself...keep on cleaning away and destroying your coins Corgi... I have scanned something and have attached it to this what i am typing...but it would be too ,long for you so

 

Sorry but o clicked enter in error....I have uploaded this to help others as it is too long for you to read...have a lovely day....

 

Yes, thank you. I know about xylene, I use to work in hazmat.

 

The answer is...yes. Every coin and every instance is different. A good rule to remember is that you can always do more, but you can't backup. Go slowly.

 

It's always funny to me when people say, "Never clean your coins"............"Unless you are a professional". The only difference is that "professionals" can, immediately after cleaning, seal the coin in a holder without details, while everyone else cannot.

Grader: "Hey, this coin was cleaned"
Paid Conservationist: "I did that, I'm a professional"
Grader: "Oh, well that's different!"

 

I you believe that, I pity you. The majority of "conserved" coins still get Details graded.

 

"oz_in_ohio, wrote this: "i have highlighted the particular part of the message in bold blue for all readers reference...if you see what has been said above, why on earth would anyone use toothpaste on something gaining value in the future when we dont know what the future will bring???? That is why there are futures in the stock markets to invest in. if we all knew the future, we would not invest, we would simply buy and sell on those days and not tie our money up for any length of time. How do we all know that a hoard of items was not kept in an investors safe or closet and did not reach the market and flood it??? Personally i dont care for the future with coins, notes, stamps gold , silver etc etc etc as i believe in making ones profit and getting out. A small profit is way better than a huge loss. Take the 1911s and 1912s USA wheat pennies in any grade as that is what i invested in when living in Australia and the money i made from them bought me a new car in the early 1970's when just out of school....I was buying EF grade under $15.00 per coin. That is when i learnt to sell when one can. Just remember , that the small % of profit you have earnt in a short time is better than a loss you will incur in years to come as the hobby is dieing off with the lack on intrest from our younger societies of today ( or our kids ) ...How many young families have bone china to eat off, sterling silver cutlery, irish bed linen and so on and so on...I would say the % would be less than 2%... That type of thing was about in our grandparents eras and it has either been sold on storage wars or the like or simply melted down for scrap... I know as i am guilty of doing just that... I was at a garage sale and saw a .925 sterling silver tea set...The person wanted 20.00 each for the serving Tray, Milk Jug and $10 for a set of teaspoons. $35.00 each for the teapot and coffee pot. that totaled $120.00 and i offered 2 $50 notes and she said add another $10 and you have a deal...So i did. I picked them up and estimated the weight in my mind there may have been close to 2 kilos of silver and i could not pay her fast enough...I then went to a dealer and sold it all for scrap silver.... I told him i wanted 85% of spot silver so he could make a good earn as well...He paid me and off i went. Just think about this...our kids will be worse as they wont know what they have if they come across similar... i received over $1400.00 for the lot and that was at a discounted price....I assume the dealer tried to sell it for its usable value before scrapping it. he would have turned it over for close to $2000.00 but i did not care....i made my profit. I have done this before in Australia ( where i originally come from ) but i damaged the goods first before letting them go to the next person at scrap price. I have 2 kids of my own that say they want nothing to do with that crap so why on earth should i keep it??? Sell it and enjoy the money is what i say... There will be people in here of my vintage ( in their 60's ) that will disagree as they had similar stuff from their grandparents but think about it...How long have you had the items and when was it last used??? You cannot buy gas , groceries, clothes etc with a silver dinner set laying in a cupboard. What i bought with assistance of the money from that silver set was a cartoon cell of bugs bunny in a robe with the original drawing by chuck jones in an auction....The number is 1/1 which means only one for the world. I have added pictures so some of you dont think i am having you on. As i have said many times over, something is only worth what a person is willing to pay for it.... I did not buy the cell for investment but simply to enjoy.... I will sell it eventually... have a nice day"

Look up the word "CARETAKER."

PS Thanks for the Post. Hope you start a new discussion. You can call it "Great Finds I Have Made." Reading this stuff is better than watching the "Pickers" TV show.

 

Cherd, posted: "It's always funny to me when people say, "Never clean your coins"............"Unless you are a professional". The only difference is that "professionals" can, immediately after cleaning, seal the coin in a holder without details, while everyone else cannot.

Grader: "Hey, this coin was cleaned"
Paid Conservationist: "I did that, I'm a professional"
Grader: "Oh, well that's different!"

And of course this member is speaking from his vast experience as the has sent in many coins to be conserved or works at a TPGS. No one around here passes on uninformed nonsense, right?

 

Don't pity me buddy, it's just coin humor

Edit:

Seems that I've struck a sensitive nerve with my TPG sarcasm, settle down guys!

But really, we have to see the irony in the fact that people scream not to do certain things to coins when "conservationists" are paid to do those very same things, and it is somehow acceptable.

I'm not overly passionate about the coin cleaning debate one way or the other, but I can't help but point out contradictions when I see them.

 

Hey, welcome to CT. This is an ongoing discussion which simply means "Don't expect to have good results from cleaning unless you know what you are doing." You get used to these posts over time.

 

THERE IS NO COMPARISON. PROS DON'T "SCRUB" ANYTHING.

 

I didn't say that they scrubbed anything, but they do use things other than:

 

Yes, the people who conserved the Saddle Ridge gold hoard did use chemicals that are a trade secret. I asked the guy who did it, and he said it's the result of over a decade of research. One thing for sure - EVERY metal get something different. No two metals alike.

 

I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer my questions. Learning about this hobby is why I come here. I just hope I never get any of you people ticked off! Boy, you guys can really dish it out!

 

Professionals do things like brain surgery, dentistry and psychiatric care, also. I would strongly urge you not to attempt doing these things yourself simply because others are able.

 

I, of course, see your point. But, we are not talking about brain surgery here. Aside from the minority of cases where action is taken to preserve a coin that would further degrade for some reason, we are talking about making small, metal disks more aesthetically pleasing. What we are talking about is less like dentistry, and more like mopping the floor at the dentist's office

Excluding mechanisms that physically alter the coin material (abrasion, dissolution, oxidation/reduction, electrolysis, etc) doesn't leave you with much, basically the 4 things that GDJMSP listed in the post that I quoted above. Aside from debris or foreign substance removal, any other alteration that a "professional" could impart on a coin would be chemical in nature. It would be silly to pay someone to dip your coins in xylene and distilled water. So what exactly is being paid for?

There are only a handful of reaction types in which coin-metals or their oxidized forms participate. There are professionals in this field "chemists", but this information is readily available online or in textbooks for those that are willing to learn, and experimentation is useful for determining what does and doesn't work depending on circumstance.

I'm certainly not advocating that people utilize these practices to pretty up their coins. When people pop in and ask about cleaning, the most sound advice is certainly "Don't". I'm just simply saying that we should evaluate what "professionals" do in the same light as everyone else. This either requires being more critical of "professionals" methods, or less critical of individuals that apply the same techniques, to the same extent, on their own coins.

It's theoretically possible for a person to obtain equipment and self-educate to the point that they could successfully perform brain surgery in their basement. Aside from the legalities, if the end result is the same, then why does it matter if it takes place in a basement or a hospital?

 

"Troll" is what you call someone who disagrees with you. That's ALL it is.