Question about cleaning Lincoln pennies

Yes, I know cleaning any coin of value is a no-no so I don't clean any rare or key date coins. But in addition to building my regular collection of not-cleaned coins, I also save every pre-1982 penny I find. I leave the wheats alone, but for the Lincolns (59 thru 81) that are grimy and the date is difficult to make out, I will soak them in vinegar to remove the grime and make the date clearer. Given the large mintages for Lincoln cents of all years between 1959 and 1981 I don't think they will ever have collector value at least in my lifetime. I'm just thinking that someday the ban on melting copper will be lifted and I might be able to sell them just for the value of the copper (which is already 3 times the face value of them). I'm just wondering if soaking them in vinegar does any damage to them that might make them of no value even for melting the copper at some point in the future. Any idea if I am making a mistake by cleaning them this way if my only purpose is to possibly sell them for melting some day?

 

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I hate to burst your bubble, but the copper in the Lincoln cents is not even worth face value. If you don't believe me, call any reclamation center or smelter and ask them what they will pay for alloyed copper. Lincoln cents are not the same as Grade A copper!

Chris

 

If you are only going to use them for their copper content then I guess who cares what they look like!!

 

I agree with Markus.

 

I heard vinegar will leach zinc from alloyed copper and brass.

 

You could get yourself a tumbler or like machine
fill it 2/3-3/4 with water and a couple three drops of dish soap
and let them tumble for a couple hours.

 

Anybody here ever even sell copper cents to a refinery for a premium? I don't know anybody who has. I know collectors who have sold them to collectors for a premium, but not to refineries.

 

Unless the 2006 law has been repealed, it is illegal to melt cents and nickels or to export them for that purpose.

 

I would turn into a Plinian Eruption if I ever heard of someone selling coins to a melter. You would think an asteroid had struck the Earth.

 

Even if you could get the spot metal value for the copper (which you can't), copper had dropped a LOT and the spot metal value of the copper cents is now 1.3 cents apiece not 3 cents.

 

Don't get me wrong guys, I'm not some crazy hoarder with barrels of copper coins sitting in my garage somewhere. I realize the laws may never change and the value of copper will fluctuate and may never go up again. I certainly don't save these pennies thinking I"m going to strike it rich some day. I think I'm just a bit jealous of the pre-1965 collectors who were smart enough to anticipate what would happen with silver. Whatever happens with copper, I realize it will never come close to what happened with silver in the 60s and 70s when hoarders were able to sell silver dimes and quarters for 10 or 20 times face value. If someday I can make just a few dollars off some saved pennies in the same way that might be cool but I realize it's just a chance...I'm doing it more for fun.

As far as cleaning them the main reason I asked is because most of the ones I saved came from a large bucket that had been sitting in my father's unheated, unventilated garage for 30-40 years. They were very oily, grimy and greasy and I figured if they could never be saved for copper value then perhaps they could be used as penny hole fillers some day.

Anyway, thanks for feedback. I'll probably just continue to clean the real dirty ones. I realize I may be wasting my time but heck I'm sure some people said the same thing to people who were saving silver coins back in the 50s.

 

Saving money is rarely a bad thing !!!

 

First you don't want to conserve a coin using vinegar, you want to use acetone. Second in the numismatic world every coin has value and so all the coins you have now run thru vinegar are damaged coins that could have potentially been worth something. Do your research on Lincolns, just because they are modern coins doesn't mean that they do not have any value to them. There are many errors in the modern Lincolns that can be found with research done in coppercoins.com, Wexler, or even the cherrypickers guide. I hope I have provided some good information for you.

 

Fair point. But I also think the question has to be asked "have value for whom?" My original question was whether vinegar could potentially hurt any melting value of the coin. I'm still not sure I know the answer to that. I agree that as far as any serious coin collector would be concerned, a grimy dirty coin has more value than a coin cleaned with vinegar. On the other hand, to the more casual collector who is simply trying to fill the holes in their Whitman penny book (and willing to put down very small amounts of cash to fill in those elusive holes that they can't get filled), I think most of them would far prefer a cleaned coin that looks nice than a grimy one in it's natural condition. And that's the most I would ever expect to get from a 1959-1981 penny, though you're right error coins are quite different. I guess if I'm not checking for that I could be making a mistake. Thanks for the link though, I'll check that out more and do some more investigation on this...

 

You should first go through them to be sure you don't have anything. Separate the ones that might be worth something from the junk. Those may require proper conservation if they are of value.

For the junk, just wash them with tap water and liquid dish soap. Rinse them well to remove all soap residue and spread them out to dry. Make sure they are completely dry before you put them into another container.

 

When it comes to conserving coins (better term then cleaning) it is better to use acetone. Acetone will remove the residue from the coin without the nasty effects that other cleaners do. This is important especially for those collectors trying to fill holes in their albums. Take me for example, I am not wealthy so I tend to look for coins within my budget, however I will not purchase a coin that has been improperly conserved. If you are cleaning coins for melt value I would simply tell you that you are wasting your time, time which could be spent finding those double dies during that period. As for value in the coins from 1959 thru 1981 I would suggest that you go to Fair Market Value on-line and you can see that these coins do have numismatic value in them.

 

Listen to BadThad, some soap and water works wonders, just rinse them thoroughly and dry them. Stay away from vinegar (5% acetic acid) copper acetate is not good stuff to have forming on your coins. Acetone would be good for grease and oil and useless for dirt.

 

Uhhh, you know pennies are money right? Why the hell would you melt it. Destroying money is a federal crime you know. Take them to the bank and exchange them for dollar bills. Or add them to your bank account. I added $4 of quarters to my bank account and it may not seem like a lot, but when my bank account almost went overdrawn by $3, those quarters saved my life.

PS: I collect at least one good condition example of these coins. They are still coins and they are still nice to have in your collection.

 

Where did you ever get that idea? What do you think the Gold and Silver places do with all the 90% they collect, put them in Whitman folders?

 

According to Title 18, Chapter 17 of the U.S. Code, which sets out crimes related to coins and currency, anyone who “alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens” coins can face fines or prison time. The same goes for debasing – that is, decreasing the proportion of precious metals – in gold or silver coins struck or coined at an American mint.

Similarly, anyone who “mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued,” can be fined or imprisoned.