cleaning silver coins with aluminum foil, baking soda, and boiling water.

We generally don't collect/store/display Silver coins in a fashion that retains their original surfaces.

For expensive coins that I locate in semi-original condition, they are stored with others in large sealed and evacuated containers having a replaced slightly positive Nitrogen atmosphere.

I've seen no oxidization resulting over 50 years with this conservation process.

JMHO

 

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Cleaning almost always ruins or at least devalues a coin. There are safe methods out there, but the rule of thumb in the previous post covers it pretty well.

 

$5 -- thats pretty damn cheap. 8-oz is going for $15 on Amazon, probably more like $10+ shipping elsewhere.

 

An aluminum foil pan or just a piece of aluminum shaped into a little bowl worked for me. I used a 2:1 ratio of water to baking soda, made sure the coin had contact with the foil and volla. 10 minutes did the trick. If the corrosion is really deep, rinse and repeat. Do not scrub the coin with anything rougher than your fingertip, or a cotton swab. This is the best coin trick ever. Use caution with harsh chemicals like E-Zest. But it does work as a last resort. Soapy products like MS70 which also has other solvents can be used with extreme caution. Happy coin doctoring, and as usual the disclaimer: Never Clean Rare coins. Let the coin grader do the cleaning. But for your average junk silver, which you wont be sending in for a grade, it's up to you. "Beauty is in the eye of the coin holder"

 

99 percent of coins that are already in PCGS holders have already been cleaned at one time or another. Its pretty obvious that a coin has been cleaned but be aware that a lot of coins are actually artificially toned to look like they aren't cleaned.

 

Welcome to the forum @rooksmith …… No better way to wake up a bunch of old coin geezers than to bring up coin cleaning! Anyway, these old threads don’t get a lot of attention. Sadly so in my book. But be ready for the onslaught if they do pay it any attention.

 

If you clean any valuable coins, you are going to learn a lesson the hard way.
It's true that some coins have been "cleaned", but more likely dipped or conserved in an acceptable manner if it is in a graded holder, or possibly "retoned". From the OP who is gone as this is 12 1/2 years old: "using acetone IS CLEANING. yet everyone seems okay with that." Acetone does not do anything to the metal. It only removes organic material. Magic marker, pen, glue residue etc. And then rinsed in distilled water. Air or lightly pat dry. There is no rubbing, there is no friction, there is no cleaning, there is no layer of patina scraped off to get to the shiny stuff below.