I've read a couple different things about it. I know not to use jewelry cleaner and further damage the coin and such. My question is does it reduce the value of the coin? I found a few coins in some of my mamaws old stuff she was going through and got a few 1964 kennedy half dollars and a couple 1941 Walking Liberty half dollars. They are black beyond beleif and you can't hardly tell what they are unless you look VERY close. I've read about the baking soda/tinfoil/hot water trick that is suppose to work and im not sure if it does anything to the coin(as far as hurting it). I've watched some youtube videos of people doing and it looked pretty promising. Any idea if this will decrease the value or damage the coin in any way? I'm not interested in selling anytime soon but man these are rough. I have doen a search here on it but haven't really found a solid answer as to what im looking for. Any help is much appreciated.
Hmmmm - semantics maybe, but if you took one of those black coins the OP is talking about and used a coin dip on it would you call that cleaning ? Some would say it is cleaning and some would say it is not, but then that's the problem with using the word "cleaning". Now there are really 2 possible scenarios here. You could take one of those black '41 Walkers the OP mentions and dip the coin. The dip will remove the heavy black toning, but you don't know what you will find under that black toning until you do it. In case #1 you might find a coin where the toning has eaten away all of the luster and you end up with a coin that is worth little more than melt. In case #2 you might find a coin that has substantially all of its original mint luster, very few contact marks and one that will grade MS65 or better - thus a coin that is worth anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars. Now in both cases it's pretty hard to argue that you did not "clean" the coin because you absolutely did "clean" it. But in neither case was it the "cleaning" itself that was the problem, nor was it the "cleaning" that reduced the value of the coin. The "cleaning" merely revealed was under that heavy black toning. The damage that was done, or the damage that was not done depending on the outcome, occurred long before the "cleaning" ever took place. The "cleaning" did no harm whatsoever to the coin. It merely revealed the harm that was already there in case #1. That's the problem with using the word cleaning to mean 2 entirely different things. There is cleaning - which does no harm whatsoever to a coin. And there is harsh cleaning - which does harm the coin every single time. So, SilverBlue - to answer your question, you don't know, you can't know what you have or don't have unless you "clean" the coins.
Thanks for posting this. This made alot of sense and seems to be the reply I was looking for. The bakingsoda/tinfoil/hotwater seemed to be a "light" way to "clean" the coin rather than using something harsh and further damage the coin. Seeing as i found a few coins, what i think i'll do is ill clean only 1 coin, the worst one, and see how it effects and so forth. I started keeping coins for the silver content rather than the collectible value anyways. Thanks alot! :hail:
No, no ! Don't get the wrong idea. That baking soda idea is a HUGE mistake ! It will absolutely harm the coin. Using baking soda in any way is harsh cleaning. There is 1 thing and only 1 thing that you can do that will not harm the coin - that is using a coin dip. And even then, using the coin dip must be done correctly or the dip itself will harm the coin. Coin dips contain an acid, it is the acid that removes the toning. And since you have no experience using coin dip, you should not even attempt it !
Any cleaning pretty much takes awau from a coins numismatic value. Most methods of cleaning leave microscopic scatches in the coin wich any good collector will look for with a loop before buying. A dip such as e z est doesnt leave scratches as much as say baking soda or toothpaste but collectors want the coin in its original form even if it hasnt aged very well. If it is junk silver that you are keeping simply for bullion and not for numismatic value than by all means clean it up if it makes you happy but then it really will only be worth melt value.
After reading these last 2 posts I went ahead and tested with a tarnished silver necklace. It worked alright but i've came to conclusion it isn't worth the trouble. Thanks for the help guys!
Not sure how heavy of toning ms70 removes, but this one came out pretty darn white. Here are some before shots, i will have to take some after when i get a minute to dig this coin out.
MS70 contains industrial detergents and surfacants so it will remove some dirt and surface contaminants. But it contains no acid so it cannot remove toning. It will remove haze from Proof coins though.
The baking soda/aluminum foil treatment contains no acid but it removes toning. It is a base solution. And frankly the baking soda/foil treatment should be no more damaging than a coin dip.
I'll grant you it could be. But leave it too long and it'll do even worse than the dip will if done too long.
