I recently started collecting and I went over to my grandmas house to help make jelly. I told her I just found a Ben Franklin half dollar and she said she has some of those somewhere! She couldn't find them but gave me an old piggy bank she said had been full for a long time. Then this morning she found a half roll of halfs the finds are posted.
Clearly, those halves came from circulation but I haven't seen a Peace Dollar in circulation since I was a kid living in Glen Burnie, MD, circa 1952. Mom gave silver dollars for good report cards to my brother and me; Granddad always brought them at Christmas.
Yes, I remember those days when you could get a Morgan or Peace at the bank if you had a dollar. I started collecting in 1948. Relatives would give Silver Dollars or Half Dollars at Christmas and Birthdays.
Quick question would it be ok to clean the Morgan or should I leave as is? I think I would enjoy it more if it was cleaner. If so what's the best way? Ive heard of vinager and salt paste works but ive never tried it.
Never clean a collectible coin with vinegar and salt. Your 1925 Peace dollar is well circulated and worn but still... Welcome to Coin Talk. Stick around and learn from the experts on here who so generously give of their time and knowledge. You can always clean a coin in the future. Can’t unclean it. Larry
I agree with Larry (heavymetal). However, it is your coin and it needs to look like you want it. Cleaning it will diminish value, so don't plan on selling it. Soaking in Acetone may be one way to go. Another way would be the Silver cleaning dip that Walmart sells. I've used it on some cruddy coins that just weren't worth keeping to see how it would work. Keep in mind what Larry said.
https://www.wood-presents.com/piggy-banks/ there are excellent piggy banks, made of natural wood. I took it myself and did not regret it
You're right with everything you've written except I believe most would agree this Peace Dollar is not collectible to anyone except perhaps the OP. If I were the OP I would bring it to my nearest pawnshop or coin store to redeem it for bullion value. From there, I would rest content knowing the coin will be swiftly put out of its misery and refined. Anyway, if the OP wants to clean it I say have at it because you'd be very hard pressed to make it worse than it is. If anything, doing so would make for good restoration practice.
If they have very little numismatic value above spot silver prices, I would just polish them up and show them off or put them away to accumulate and maybe sell. Depends upon your collecting goals. I personally wrap my "junk" silver coins for a rainy day. If inflation ever becomes so high as to devalue our fiat paper currency, I still have silver coins which are a known silver content and easy to verify. Could be that someday a 1960 Roosevelt dime will be enough silver to buy you a loaf of bread when $500 in paper currency will not. I'm in the process of cleaning out my parents house and my Dad was an avid collector. The house keeps producing "treasure" every time I clean out a room. A few civil war tokens in the living room, a Morgan dollar in the bedroom, 28 sacks of Canadian cents from the 50's & 60's the garage ... ugh! Its always nice to find treasure!
