Ok, now I'm really confused! I always hear "Never Clean Coins"! But, so far in a several different post I have seen distilled water baths, acetone baths, mineral oil soak & warm sudsy water soak. I was under the impression that any cleaning reduces the value of collectable coins. Now, which is correct??
Advice to not clean coins is general and directed towards the novice collector. Although there are acceptable ways of cleaning ("conserving") coins, these techniques are best left to the experienced. Hence the do not clean coins advice and very good advice it is. If you want to learn proper techniques, take some junk, educate yourself, and learn by trial and error. Just as a side note, on an open forum a lot of false and/or questionable information is spread by individuals who themselves do not know any better. No matter where your interest is, educate yourself FIRST. There is an old saying that I rarely hear anymore.. "buy the book before the coin" (same goes for cleaning). Its good that you are asking questions.
Ok. I have enough to learn about coin collecting alone so forget learning the cleaning process for now.. I'm just gonna stick to the "Never Clean Coins" rule. Thanks everyone!
It doesn't matter what you call it. The only thing that matters is the method used. And Clary - you can read books, magazine articles, posts made on coin forums, blogs, You Tube videos, and every other form of communication that you can imagine. And you can find all sorts of methods and different ways to clean coins discussed there. They will discuss using everything from taco sauce, to lemon juice, to every household cleaner under the sun. And in almost every case you will also read - this works great ! But just because you can find all of this stuff, that does not mean that you should ever do any of it ! There are 3 things that are safe to use on coins to clean them. (Use the word conserve if that makes you happy, it means exactly the same thing). They are - 1 - distilled water 2 - acetone* 3 - xylene * - acetone may cause copper coins to turn weird colors Each of these 3 things have specific uses and should only be used in specific cases, depending on the coin and what you are trying to clean off the coin. And you must follow proper procedure when using them or you will not be happy with the results and may even harm the coin. There are also other things that can be used like coin dips. But again, they must only be used in certain cases. And a coin dip can and will ruin a coin if it is not used correctly because coin dips contain acid. But if a coin dip is used correctly it will not harm the coin. Anything else you read, anywhere, written by anybody - forget it. Put it right out of your mind and never do it. For that matter don't ever try any of the things I have mentioned until you have done lots of experiments and practiced with them on coins that do not matter. There have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of threads on this forum alone discussing the subject of cleaning coins. Search for them, read them. You'll learn a lot about what to do and what not to do. And that's where you need to start. There is no book. But it would take a book just to fully explain what I have said here. So if you have questions about a specific coin, then post pics of that coin and we'll discuss what to do - for that 1 coin ! Each coin is different and no single method will work on every coin.
Wouldn't matter if I did. People would go right on doing what they have always done. Few listen here, fewer would listen to the book.
i would buy the book and those who dont listen to people with good advice, dont deserve to get the advice.
I've told this before..... A dealer at one of the shows I attend has albums full of cleaned coins. He brags about how he cleans his coins and that nobody can tell. He's barely sold a coin out of them and complains about that constantly. If done properly (and "properly" is the key word), then coins can be "cleaned". Practice on junk coins for a few years before attempting to clean a collectible coin.
If a book were to be written, it should contain photos of the results of proper clening methods along with improper methods. I know that sometimes photos don't always replace looking at the physical coin itself but it might work. Photos such as a light dip in approved dips versus soaking a coin in Tarn-x or lemon juice, etc. What common solvents like nail polish remover do to copper coins. Of course pictures of the results of whizzing, thumbing, pencil erasers, baking soda, tooth paste, silver polish and other abrasive cleaning methods.
Depends on who you talk to about this. Some think toning needs to be removed and the coin nice and shiny so they dip it, or rinse it, in general clean the tarnish and/or patina off. Others believe leaving the coin in it's original condition is best. However, if an amateur cleans a coin, they have a tendency to over dip the coin, or leave it in the solution longer than they should, they can actually cause surface damage, and ruin the coins natural appearance and thus, reduce any potential numismatic value the might have had. I'm in the camp of leave the coin in it's original condition and not clean or dip it to remove tarnish or patina. That's what gives the coin some character.
There is a difference between harsh cleaning and conservation. But not between cleaning and conservation. Your argument Thad is no different than calling a garbage collector a sanitation engineer. You can use a fancy word but when it comes right down to it he's still a garbage collector.
Im so glad I asked even tho I have no intentions of cleaning any of my coins. I like the older look on them better. Besides all of my coins have been collected from circulation and are already damaged to some extent. Probably even been cleaned at some point along the way. Don't think I want to chance of ruining any of them. Thanks again everyone.
Take a look at the link page I inserted in here. Can you point out the how many non-cleaned coins there are compared to how many there are? http://www.ebay.com/sch/Early-Pre-1...=1&_sop=16&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=16 This is exactly the reason why you should never clean coins. Because you will be part of a very large group of collectors who don't mind getting nothing for something.
I can't tell, which is also why I don't buy coins from anywhere. If I find them thru circulation then I don't have to worry about being lied to and besides I think it takes the fun out of "finding" or "searching" if you run out and "buy".
