to clean or not to clean..?have a look

coin cleaning

sorry to tell you there was no scrub brush used..nice comment though .lol

 

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The coin was rubbed (or wiped) by someone or something along the way. Damage is damage, regardless how it occurred. You cannot undo the damage.

 

Paper towels scratch coins, rubbing with fingertips and distilled water can leave abrasions on the surface of a coin, all soaps contain acids or alkalis that will destroy luster, tap water contains chlorine and will destroy luster by simply soaking. All of these and more are possible in cleaning. As has been said, once damaged always damaged. (Unless the coin is conserved.) The only way, as has been said, to remove debris from a coin is to use a solvent with a high flash point (like acetone) which will dissolve surface contaminants and evaporate with no residue. As for museums, they are not numismatists. On average, museums dip, polish, and lacquer their coins. All they care about is display and preservation. (Not all, obviously, but most.)

 

You don't need to use a scrub brush to destroy the surfaces of the coin. From the pictures that you posted, the 50c piece in question shows surfaces that have been basically destroyed by cleaning. Cleaning an old coin to make it "bright and shiny" is like taking a painting by Van Gogh and "brightening" it by using fingerpaints.

As far as the value, I took a guess based on what I saw a few sell for on eBay, and regardless of whatever the value of the coin is, it's worth a fraction of the market value of one that has not been cleaned.

Again, let me rephrase.... As far as any knowledgeable coin collector is concerned, that coin is now a "problem coin" and worth a fraction of it's normal market value. By cleaning this coin you caused irreparable damage to the coin, damage that cannot be undone. Period.

 

Basically, he's saying you ruined the coin. Don't ever do that again.

 

50 cent nl

i agree in the eyes of the coin community it is a no no .and yes i agree. but i feel if a person is not planning on selling or misrepresenting the condition of a coin by saying it wasnt cleaned when selling to someone who dont know the difference..but keeping it for them selfs . then i feel its there right. its not very often you find a coin with no real damage of some sort. unless sealed from the mint. y do people roll search? more then likely every coin in a roll was affected by weather or salt from skin or left in a clothes washer. so that being the case lets assume when you find a nice coin roll searching and you grade it at au50 theres a 99 % chance to was touched and affected to some extent. so in my eyes its a damaged coin...its hard for me to explain what im trying to say in the proper terms because im new and ignorant in my knowledge sometimes..but if you look back to the start of all of this i stated that i cleaned the coin. i wanted to see how nice it would look for my own personal gain. i have about 5 or 6 others of that date not cleaned. but believe it was an experiment.not a common practice.i will take some pics of the other nl coins i have and you will see they are not cleaned.thank you all for your patience . i have learned from this post.. by the way i cant type for crap lol. excuse the spelling errors. t.s

 

You ruined the coin. You may "own" the coin in your eyes, but in my opinion, we are merely protectors of the coin and it is our duty to preserve them as best we can for future generations to enjoy. By cleaning and scratching the crap out of that coin, you have not only robbed it of considerable numismatic value, but also of considerable enjoyment for future generations. 100 years from now, when you're long dead, someone will look at that coin and shake their head, wondering who scratched it up by cleaning it, and think about what could have been.

FWIW, I've pulled plenty of mint-state coins out of rolls, including wheat cents, 60's cents, dimes, and halves. Honest wear on a coin is not damage, and there's a damn good reason why a coin with honest wear will bring more than a coin that once was in nicer condition but was ruined via cleaning.

But you know what? It's not worth my time arguing with you over it. Congratulations on thoroughly destroying a nice coin. Despicable, imho, and I'm gonna put you on my ignore list for attempting to justify it instead of admitting you ****ed up.

 

A little harsh Merc. She's admitted to her mistakes and learned a lesson. It's not like the coin was a one of a kind piece. We all experiment at times. That's how we learn.

 

Yeah, I agree with green18. I know I've done vinegar soaks and baking soda paste scrubs to a bunch of wheaties. Also, may I remind you that according to my 1964 Blue Book, baking soda paste scrubs were hobby acceptable on modern silver coins in those days. (Modern to 1964 being very subjective, but I would say probably 1940's and newer at the time.) Baking soda scrubs today would leave a coin permanently damaged for modern standards. I think just about all of us have done something like this before, not decieve but just out of curiosity and experimentation.

 

Eye of the beholder.

Many things have been ruined.

Model "T's" with V8's, Etchings by DaVinci which he ruined himself, by putting stuff on top of old Original stuff.

Some folks get upset about everything. Others think it is a great idea to keep on keepin' on.

I really think it is pointless for complainers whose "special Stuff" gets more rare as, we the people, do as we wish with our stuff.

They should applaud your efforts.

 

To clean or not to clean ? No and yes . Depending upon the issue/ coin token or medal and the assumed surface damage , even the most experienced collectors will usually prefer to have a Professional Numismatic Service determine the application required in attempting a surface restoration . Often times, this is just not a financially feasible option depending upon the issue/coin, medal or token . Even the most notable Dealers and collectors would defer to a professional restoration service such as NCS . Every time I read post's where folks do this or that, even on financially insignificant pieces, my stomach does flips. Need I say more ?

 

nl 50 cent piece

thats fine if you wish to ignore me because i admited that i tryed something as an experiment,thats fine. i have 2 coins that i washed to see what they would be like out of my collection of about 900 coins.i wasnt trying to justify that what i done is cool or ok to do, but from a stand point of owning something and deciding to try to make something look more appealing to my own eye i think is a personal decision that i was tottaly intitled to do.the coin or shall i say the 2 coins i have tryed to clean i have 7 of one and 5 of the other. so to me it was a total experiment. the question i asked was in the cleaned state now. if that coin was not cleaned and looked the way it is now with marks,what would be the grading of it. seems you took my decision as a personal thing. question to all has there ever been any cleaned or coins in the history of coin collecting that have been graded or sold for a fair dollar regardless of cleaning? or does the grading companies just send them back and say sorry looks like your coin was washed.and that we dont want your business..im new and i wish to learn.from my post i have learned a major no no when dealing with coins. i intentionally did not down grade anyone if they have ever tryed it..now im confused because i feel discriminated against .when im like i said trying to learn, asking questions and giving my opinion.if one was to teach other or lay out rights and wrongs. i feel ignoring me does the opposite then helping me understand. and when i read about people and acetone being used .i feel confused. i assume if you find a rare coin with soil and dirt on it i should put it in a folder and show people how wonderful my coin looks like that.thats why i cleaned the coin in the first place it was an experiment.and what do i get a big black mark above my post in the coin talk community...just my feeling. sorry and maybe i should look else where when asking someonew to help teach me .

 

Dipping is one thing. Mechanical cleaning (rubbing, wiping) is another. The latter is likely to cause hairlines and scratches.

 

50 cent nl cleaned

thank you so i have learned, and me being on this site is to learn. i responded to the newbie group but i would assume what i did may have caused me to be discriminated against. i just hope i will be accepted into the group so i can learn. time will tell.

 

How you clean depends on what the surface contaminant is, too. Acetone for PVC and Lacquer, olive oil for encrusted ancients, specialty dips for verdigris, etc. You have to know what you're dealing with before you can properly remove it. Removing toning/tarnish from silver coins also removes the original coin surface, so you must be aware of that. There are so many things to take into consideration before you attempt to correctly clean a coin. We have all been around long enough to hear us yell at a newbie "Do not clean your coins!", this is not because some coins don't benefit from a cleaning, it is because you have to know what you're doing or you might ruin a high value coin. Experimentation is how you learn, they are your coins - do what you want, just remember try not to wipe a coin. If you have to, use soft pure cotton or microfiber. Also, even ugly tarnish is better than a "blast white" obviously cleaned piece. It is all part of learning. (p.s. Just because one person disagrees with you is no reason to give up on CT. I've had my squabbles with others. In fact, there are two members who are mortal enemies. If you love coins, I'd encourage you to stay here.)

 

nl 50 cleaning

thank you for the advice and caring words..i appriciate every thing i learn and the great responses from members..

 

The " Newbie " group that Vnickels & coinmaster are implementing is open to all , young or old . You will not be discriminated against at all .

 

nl 50 cleaning

thank you very much for the information

 

Aw heck Maggie, we all love ya........

Even if you do torture coins.........I'm joking.

 

cleaning

thanks , lol ,