So I took a picture with just some examples of what coins may look like, from the worst to just dirty looking. This is curiosity at its best! I'm completely new to the coin world so I really do appreciate the comments from you guys! I searched "cleaning" and came upon a bunch of helpful threads.
I understand, my profile picture is another example. When I go metal detecting and I find coins covered in dirt and have been sitting there for a while is why I mainly asked my original question.
Be careful. Every once in a while a digger finds a multi thousand dollar coin even in its environmentaly damaged condition. And you can still take thousands away by not "cleaning" it properly.
Interesting that an aerospace engineering background leads to expertise in coin chemistry. This argument is analogous to the one by Jeff Spicoli from the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," where after crashing the star football player's car, Jeff said he can fix it because his dad is "a TV repair man and has the ultimate set of tools."
Well, he designs satellites for NASA and knows his chemistry and biology. So I considered listening to him. Just because someone has the "engineer" title doesn't necessarily mean they don't know about coins. It also doesn't mean they do know either. So, I reached out to someone that I know in person who may have a clue on what would clean a coin. It was a simple question, and after doing research I see that cleaning is no good. Thanks for the feedback!
Dude, I was an aerospace engineer early in my life, and then got into different industries after seeing the upcoming downsizing. I would certainly lean on not cleaning a coin, and if you have the craving to do so, experiment first with some invaluable coins
Chris, I'm in the Arbutus area, west of Baltimore. Lon, thank you! I've come to the conclusion not to clean my coins Dimedude, I'm not cleaning them. I got alot of help from this forum and I appreciate the advice.
Nice. This is the foundation from which you start learning the exceptions to the generality "cleaning isn't acceptable." They are many, and increase in number with your level of skill/knowledge. So keep your eyes open for those nuggets available in our frequent cleaning discussions which meet the "smell test" you are now developing.
it looks like the cents have already been exposed to CLR and it dissolved most of the copper, exposing the zinc.
I'm originally from Rockville, but I've been in Southwest Florida since 1978. Does your NASA friend work at Goddard? Chris
