I heard somewhere that using a cottonball and water will get surface dirt off, but it didnt do anything. What can I use to help get dirt off circ. coins?
Oh yes it did - the rubbing put hairlines on the coins and destroyed whatever numismatic value they may have had. Nothing useful. Just leave them alone!
No chemical application or rubbing to clean dirt from coins is ever recommended. Hairlines will always show under magnification from any sort of friction, including cotton. However, if the coins are circulated and low value to begin with, there may be non-chemical and non-abrasive methods to clean bits of loose dirt, such as a jet of water followed by a rinse with distilled water followed by air-drying. If the coin is circulated to begin with, this might not decrease the value below what it was to start with. If the coin is uncirculated or about uncirculated, everything you do will probably decrease the value of the coin so don't do anything.
It’s not the cotton that scratches the surface. It’s the dirt and oxidized metal that’s picked up by the cotton that does the damage. You can dip the coin but it may damage the coin it other ways. Do a search on coin cleaning will bring up some good info.
How about using an Ultrasonic Cleaner with a solution of Warm Water??? Like some jewlers use for their PMs... No chemical touchs th coin, no rubbing of the goin... The UltraSonice waves scare off the Dirt...
Smullen, that method might have some merit if performed with distilled water and air dried, as long as it was done to circulated coins. It probably is inappropriate for uncirculated coins.
If it is a necessity that you feel you have to remove dirt from a coin you should first try to assertain what exactly the dirt is composed of. If in fact it is just dirt, then the water you tried should have removed some or all of it. If the dirt is not dirt but a toning or metallinc compound formed due to exposure to the elements, then any removal will take some of the metal away with it. If you are really curious as to the many methods of this removal process, I suggest you find a relatively inexpensive coin and try some of the following: Emerse the coin in a liquid called Acetone available at any hardware store. However, this is not a pure Acetone substance and will leave a residue after evaporation. Emerse the coin in dish soap and warm water and then rince with distilled water and blow dry. Emerse the coin in battery acid and allow to sit there for a few weeks. This can be either purchased at a auto parts store or you can steal it from a neighbors car battery. Find a lady with Tarn-X jewelry cleaner and put the coin in there. Don't tell her because the coin will contaminate the solution. Heat with a blow torch. This will actually melt the dirt off. Don't hold in your hand during this process. Lay the coin on top of an M-80 and light. Won't clean the coin but will get rid of it for you. Wet the coin, rub with a Brillo Pad until a nice shine is accomplised. bow dry so as not to leave spots.
It's not so much a question of who cleans it - it's more a question of how they clean it and the end result. If NCS cleans ( they prefer to use the term conserve of course ) a coin you won't be able to tell that they cleaned it. If you or I or Joe Collector cleans a coin though - just about anybody can tell it was cleaned. THAT'S the difference. The average collector saying that they can clean coins and have it be alright is kind of like saying that the average person can perform a heart transplant and have it turn out just as well if the most skilled heart surgeon did the same surgery. Granted the comparison is a bit extreme - but it is valid nonetheless. The people at NCS are professionals at what they do - we are not.
