I learned from watching American Restoration that you can deoxidize metals with ketchup. So for the heck of it I went into my stash of common wheaties like 40s and 50s and pulled out a 1944 and a 1943 to see which one cleaned up the best why don't you look and see. Isn't doing this process make the coins less valuable? Like they had any lol.
lots of methods people use. http://www.pennycollector.com/tips_clean.html but all of these will most likely devalue the coin because it leaves traces of what you did (i.e., improper cleaning).
You aren't really de-oxidizing them (which would imply some sort of reversal of the oxidation process -theoretically possible, but tricky). What you are in fact doing is using a strong acid (in this case ketchup, but just about any acid or base will do the same job) to strip away the oxidation and leave the bare surface underneath. This leaves a stripped, naked, pink copper cent. Its ugly, and removes a significant amount of value from the coin. Don't do it.
When I was a kid, 25 years or so ago, my dad and I put Tabasco on most of his wheats from the bed table drawer. I still have all those wheats. While I am a 100% proponent of acetone, stay away from the acidic treatments. Those wheats have had 25+ years to re-tone. They still look bad.
I think it's great to experiment with low value coins. If nothing else, it teaches you what to look for sometimes.
Makes 'em tasty though.......though I prefer my Ketchup on a big fat burger with a mess o' fry's........
