Hello I am new to collecting and what I have heard is to never clean a coin. is this true? my son went out and bought me a bottle of (COIN CARE) do you think that it is safe to use this on my coins? It says to use a q-tip with a little of this solution on the coins. What do you think? thank you BILL
(theme to "JAWS" now playing)...... Don't look Ethyl!!!! (Thurston Howell snickers) Lovey!! Lovey!! Ohh..Do come and see the entertainment!!
Don't do it unless You are ready to live with a cleaned coin. If you do and decide to sell the coins MAKE sure that you tell them it is cleaned.
Bill - We have had quite a few, shall we say, heated discussions regarding products like Coin Care and Blue Ribbon. Now you can go and read them if you like, but what you will find out is that there are those who say it is OK to use such products and those who say it is not OK to use them. Personally, I stand in the not OK camp.
I am talking about wheat pennies to clean. why is it such a big deal if they are cleaned or not? Does it ruin the coin? wouldnt someone like a nice clean coin? Im new to collecting and dont want to make any mistakes. thanks for your help BILL
Hi Bill the big deal is the price of the coins most collectors do prefer to have a coin in it's original state and will not pay the same for a cleaned coin as they would for one in its original condition (Dirty), the only real exceptions to this rule are Ancients (Roman/Celtic etc) as many of those are found so heavily encrusted in dirt that you have to clean them to find out what they are LOL But I have to be brutaly honest here Bill if you want to clean yours then go ahead (They are your property) but please remember that you have been warned that the value will have drasticly fallen when you (Or your family) try to sell them
hey thank you for the tips on cleaning. I didnt know. I will definetly not clean any of my coins except to rub it a little to see the date. if I have to. thank you again BILL
Always test on worthless coins like pocket change before touching your collectibles, even low dollar ones. Hey pocket change is "free".
Just do a search on cleaning, Coin Care, Blue Ribbon, mineral oil, rose thorns. Decide for yourself. Based on your level of experience don't touch them till you have been learning and reading about coins for at least a year or two. Keep them in a cardboard mylar 2 x 2 or air-tite if they are nice enough or tubes if they are commone dates and low grade. You will likely mess up a lot of coins learn so do it on VG to G grade of common date wheats. Charmy wrote a good write up recently. Do a search on "The Penny Lady" and read through her posts. I can't remember the name of the post but it was similar to yours. That was a good one and was specific to what you asked. Welcome. Buy the book before the coin. Don't spend a lot of money until you know what your doing.
You usually don't want to do that either. Think of it this way Bill - coins are best left alone. That means don't rub them with your fingers, a cloth or anything else - no matter how soft you think it is. Don't submerse them in cleaning solutions, chemicals or anything - except maybe distilled water. Don't even think about using electrolysis. Don't do ANYTHING to them, unless you know what you are doing BEFORE you do it. Yeah I know, how do you find out what you are doing unless you do it first. Well ya don't. So if you want to learn, fine, experiment. But only experiment on say modern coins that you would otherwise just spend as change. That way you are not out anything if you screw up the coin. For no matter how badly you screw it up, you can still spend it. And don't fool yourself into thinking that just because the coin looks better to you when you are finished - that others will think it looks better too. They won't. To them it will have become pocket change to only be used for spending at face value. There are exceptions of course, but only with rarities, which you are not likely to find anyway, but ya never know.
Mortal Sin Of Coin Collecting!! Bill, your question in this forum is somewhat analogous to a BSME graduate asking a plumber whether it is reasonable for the graduate to change his sink trap. The answer is that you haven't the accredited training to properly accomplish such a monumental complicated task. LOL There are "qualified" cleanologists who are paid vast sums to delve into the complexities of proper cleaning. I, and I suspect the majority of forum participants, have attempted to learn the guarded secreted "skills" of the cleanologists, occasionally to our dismay. We have altered/destroyed the natural appearance of a hideous appearing coin, changing it to be lustrous with enhanced details. We have committed a grievous act in the eyes of many. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa. The truth is that, in probability, the majority of Century Old lustrous TPG graded Silver coins, have in likelihood, been altered from their natural state. I believe good counsel is that one should not apply a harsh agent or process to coins that you wouldn't apply to the finish of your new automobile. Best Wishes for your learning process, from an antiquated student of the "conservation" arts. :thumb:
Cripes! This is the third time you've said this in the last two days and each time you've been corrected by those who know better. Three times, and you've only got a total of 5 posts! Why do you keep promoting lighter fluid? You might as well use gasoline or kerosene. These petroleum products are NOT safe for coins. Please stop saying this. Lance.
Well, to quote the "Captain" once again : "What we’ve got here is… failure to communicate. Some men you just reach, which is the way he wants it. I don’t like it any more than you men."
