Is it possible to get the original or close to original luster back on a Silver coin that has been cleaned? Yes it was me who cleaned it. New to this stuff. Can this mistake be reversed to any degree? Oh and what about ezest?
not gonna happen, when it's gone, it's gone. You have learned the lesson the hard way. I hope it was not a valuable coin, and BTW, welcome to the forum !!
Do not i repeat do not clean anymore of your coins. I'm sure there will be some members that will say dip it let it retone and flip it.I say use it as a learning tool on what not to do with your coins. OK with that said get all the info on coins that you can i.e. books, internet, coin fourms such as this.Great people here with all kind's of info. good luck , by the way what do you collect?
Thank you. Well I dont really collect any particular type of coins. I do have a small collection of about 60 world coins and kind of want to get into US coins.
more like a ''born again virgin''....you could obtain some new luster by striking or pressing the coin again...
Welcome to the forum! Nope - can't be reversed. As mentioned don't clean coins. Your best bet now is to just let the coin set.
As stated above, the luster once gone, is gone forever. Here is why: The luster on coins is caused by microscopic ridges on the surface of the coin. These ridges (flow lines) are created naturally as the planchet is pressed into a coin, and not by some post minting process. They are also fairly fragile. As a coin enters circulation, the flow lines are quickly damaged on the high points of the coin, this causes breaks in the luster which is used to discern an about uncirculated coin from a mint state coin. Cleaning coins generally damages these lines as well, sometimes slowly, as when a coin is dipped, all the flow lines are eaten away a bit until either repeated or prolonged dipping removes them all; or quite quickly as with a polish and cloth. If you only damaged a common date coin, dont worry about it. Its probably worth the education value alone, as it is important to learn how to spot cleaned coins in the wild.
Someof the old timers may remember this. Anthony Swaitek, in the Swaitek report demonstrated dipping on BU coins, amazing results, microscopically it look like you dipped the coin in acid, well, actually you did. Dips remove tarnish. AND metal. Not good for a coin.
Welcome to CT. You'll learn a lot here. Leave those coins alone. They look OK for now. Even after dipping. Bruce
