The grille cleaner that I use to clean gunk off of coins

Here is the brand of grille cleaner I use to get gunk off of filthy coins. It's the "Pex" brand. It does a great job on certain types of dirt. I don't use it on valuable coins, just on common date pennies and other coins that are worth face value. I don't know where you would get it other than a restaurant supply store.

 

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Have you learned nothing here?

 

Dude, seriously?

 

You could use it in a rock tumbler for extra effectiveness.

 

Now that takes me back to good memories.

 

If a coin is gunky to the point where attribution or ID is impossible, what other methods do members suggest?

 

Is it like a degreaser, I'm guessing?

 

I guess so, some sort of acid maybe? I am just curious as to what members who I presume are heckling the poster of the thread suggest for coins which are basically slugs without some sort of cleaning, however severe.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.. I've been using this:

 

It is indeed a degreaser. I just cleaned up a grungy '79 SBD. Laugh all you want, but it works and doesn't seem to harm coins. Like I said, I'm not cleaning 1928-P peace dollars or anything, just old wheats and nickels with gunk.

 

I don't know, fellas... if he wishes to trash change, it's really not that big of a deal, but I do question the logic behind starting such a thread on a forum frequented by a large number of uninitiated collectors.

 

If it works, good on you! I clean ancients and I have tried many methods. The manufacturers claim these cleaners take off rust and oxidisation and leave the base metal alone. I have just bought some.......they are your coins .... do with them as you wish I say. What about all the silver coins being sold on ebay for scrap!!!!, they all go in the melting pot.

 

but he says it works? Its not as if he says he used it and it wrecked all his coins.......and he only advises using it on 'junk' coins. If uninitiated collectors dont use this they will use coca cola or vinegar....nothing will stop people experimenting and I doubt this will encourage many to use rust remover either.

 

The point is, just about everything has been used to clean coins at one time or another. When I started collecting back in the 1950's, baking soda was the "cleaner" of choice. Market acceptability was a different animal in those days. However, with the vast amount of information available today, even the beginning (or novice) collector knows it's best not to clean any coin that has numismatic value. I doubt this, or any of the similar threads on CT and the numerous other forums expounding the virtues of a specific "cleaner", will sway someone to dump his collection in a pan and grab a brillo pad. I wouldn't worry too much about someone destroying a coin because they "read how to clean coins on the internet".

 

I totally run a restaurant and never even thought about using this awesome product (I have stuff that can cut an inch layer of caked on grease) for this end.

All seriousness though, you can buy Easy-Off at the super market and Grill Cleaner is basically the same thing which you can find in Lowes, Home Depots, and Walmarts, although as the other users say, i wouldnt recommend this stuff unless you just do not care about the integrity of your coins.

My industrial strength is called Mr. Muscle and will pull paint off walls if you arent careful

 

I would have to ask why anyone is so desperate to have to save coins which are basically slugs? With all the trillion's of coins out there you MUST have this one? Turn it back into the bank and let them take the appropriate action. Or, perhaps the heckling is from the other end towards everyone else.

 

For real serious cleaning especially of rare early coins I use muriatic acid nothing dissolves them better

 

I have no problem with anyone experimenting, which was made rather clear in the first part of the (partially quoted) post, and have often defended people for doing so because it can be educational on many different levels. However, please understand that there is a difference between simple experimentation and starting a thread that directly states this type of grill cleaner does a "great job on certain types of dirt". Contrary to what you claim, the OP did not advise using it only "on junk coins"; he simply stated that he "does not use it on valuable coins".

You're right in that if one wishes to clean a coin, they will, but this is no excuse for poor advice.

 

A customer just came in and spent 20 nasty gunky pennies that looked like they were soaked in Pepsi. Soaking them for 15 minutes in the grill cleaner cleaned them right up.

 

There ya go.... can't argue with the facts.