Hi friends, I have been lurking for a while now and researching the best ways to clean coins. Some people say to use olive oil, Coka Cola, plain dish soap, etc. Well, I decided to put everything I'd ever heard of into one mixture and it's actually doing a pretty good job so far. Here's what I did: First I tried finding the worst penny in my "change cup" (where I throw normal coins in when I get them as change from stores.) I found a 1973D penny that was pretty dark. Here it is: Next I made "the formula". Basically it is 1 part Dawn dish soap, 1 part chrome cleaner/rust remover, 1 part olive oil, 1 part citric acid, 1 part Coca Cola, and one part Goof Off. I swished the cup around to get everything together then I dropped the penny in. And oh my goodness the stuff stunk so bad I actually got a small headache, definitely not good. If you try it wear a breathing mask or something - I know I sure will next time. Here's what the solution looked like by the way: I let it sit for about an hour, took the coin out and here are the results (notice that I left half of the coin in the solution and half out for comparison reasons.) Voila: Now it's probably one of the nicer pennies in my "change cup" (or half of it at least!) Anyone else have any solutions to polishing up coins that they'd like to share?
I'll warn you, most of the pros are going to bash this thread because you arent soposed to clean coins, honestly I go for a quick dip in acetone (exept I havent bought any since the whole perxoide/acetone bombs at heathrow) followed up by some MS-70 if I really want to make it look nice or something, but otherwise I stay away from cleaning.
Oh and by the way I belive you mixed several substances that are liable to react with eachother even before the penny is added, I would definetly do this in a well ventellated space.
Yeah, I was reading about that - not supposed to clean coins. Can't you clean them with water or something, and not chemicals like I did? Or does even simple H20 ruin the value? I really don't understand why collectors would want to have a bunch of cruddy looking coins in their display, but I can definitely see how it could affect the value (certain chemicals could eat the coin, even microscopically.) I don't think the coin really has any value besides one cent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's nothing too special about a 1973 Denver-minted penny. I ran the test in a well ventelated place by the way, so no worries.
Oh no I didnt mean that particular coin, but I meant cleaning in general is frowned upon by serious collectors, sure shiny coins are nice but shiny coins with hundreds of tiny pits or scratches is no fun. Also if you clean it with water most likley it will get clean for a while and then tarnish over again later. So it is best to preserve the coin in the condition it is in by putting it in a 2x2 or snap or something and keep it in a safe place rather than taking the top layer of metal off so it will be shiny.
In the last half century or so, collectors have gone from "cleaning is OK", to "cleaning is forbidden" to " cleaning is bad, conserving is good". So doing what you did to the coin is "wrong" by current standards, but it is your coin!, it's not unique and need to be saved for the future, and it has a value of .01 and I doubt anyone would buy it from you for .02. So experiment if you wish. You did mix some alkaline and some acidic substances together and probably the Dawn soap has urea compounds in it which also can be found in some old coin dip solutions as I remember, which may account for some of the smell, although I don't know what the "goof" stuff is made from, but probably it and the rust remover and the citric acid and coca-cola are acidic. Don't judge the success of your formula now, let it sit in the dish or put one in a 2X2 holder and see what it looks like if a few months. Many cleaning solutions look good right after use, but then the ugly spots and stains from uneven rinsing and reactions may appear. Copper is very reactive and usually is damaged the most. Tap water is no good, and some distilled water is slightly acidic. De-ionized water is the best ~ IF you really want to use water. JMHO. If you want to see some more DIY cleaning formulas, http://clean.ancients.info/joe/Links.htm
Unless you have a good reason other than the coins look ugly, you just leave them alone! Cleaning are generally frowned unless your particular coin has PVC, verdigris, rust (subjectable to damage) but otherwise, YOU LEAVE THEM ALONE. If you never know how cruel cleaning could be, tough luck. Cleaning coins in a sense is generally like what I would describe as follow, which would be pouring mild hydrochloric acid just to get rid of your scabs from a sunburn. Sure it does get rid of the scabs but your skin will burn. In general, your skin will eventually heal over time because of biological healing process, but on coins, no, they stay as damaged, and the more you try to "correct" the issue, you are just ruining it. Sure thing, your particular coin looks "shiny" but does it look natural? No. Does Brillant Uncirculated coins give yuo such radiance red color? No. Why? That's because you have stripped a thin layer of copper plating from the coin, which gives it an uneven color finish. Let the coin out for a few months, and the coin surface will actually react a lot faster to the enviroment. I'll let the chemists do a better explaination.
Are there any professional coin cleaning solutions? I get the idea that you shouldn't clean coins in general, but I was thinking of cleaning some double-years I have (like say I have 2 1968 pennies, I'd leave one alone and clean the other with a professional cleaning solution.) Are there any professional cleaning solutions out there for coins? Or does any/all methods of cleaning coins mean damage to the coin? Isn't there some no/minimal-damage professional cleaning solution I can buy that won't hurt the coins very much or at all? I mean with all of the coin-fanatics out there, there has to be a 'good' solution somewhere.
Can someone explain why it would be bad to wash the dirt off of a 1968 pennie? Is there something special that they put on this years coins, or do they rust if washed?
No such thing as professional cleaning solution. Forget MS-70, forget jewellery dipping, just forget any kind of cleaning solutions. The cost of leaving them alone is definately a lot cheaper than you trying to do anything about them.
There isn't. There was a time when cleaning your coins was considered normal and the thing to do. But in today's world it is not. The vast majority of coin collectors now consider cleaning coins about the absolute worst thing there is in the world that you can do - they consider that cleaning is ruining the coins. In the eyes of the numismatic community it will not help the coins to look better, be better or be worth more money - it will do exactly the opposite. Most collectors would tell you that you might as well go ahead and spend them afterwards. Now, that said - they are your coins and if you want to clean them go ahead and do so.
If anyone has a strong opinion that cleaning coins isn't a big deal, and that the numismatic community is wrong to oppose it, and that someday it will again be considered acceptable to clean coins, then it would be better to purchase already cleaned coins at huge discounts to normal market value and wait for opinions to change a few decades [or centuries] from now. Nobody knows what the future will bring. If it works, you or your ancestors will make money. If it doesn't, you'll have a collection with little resale value that probably didn't cost a lot to put together. This might or might not make you happy. But it makes no sense to clean an uncleaned coin except to stop ongoing corrosion.
