Does soap and water constitute "cleaned?"

Welcome to CT. You can learn a lot here. I wouldn't worry about getting a coin graded unless I was convinced it was worth something over $100 dollars, and at that level most of us are better off just buying them already graded.. As mentioned, acetone, without rubbing, is generally as far as cleaning should go unless you really know what you are doing. Buy/collect coins that appeal to your eye and just enjoy the hobby!

 

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I hate to say this, because I’ve never liked this answer, but in this case it fits perfectly.

If you need to ask this question, you should NOT attempt to clean your coins.

 

We have become accustomed to liking bright and shiny things.

 

But I'm not sure why anybody would attempt to clean an uncirculated coin? What would there be to clean?

 

I experimented with dipping, soaking in acetone and distilled water and then compared with an uncirculated MS 70 graded coin under high magnification and could readily and easily see that the other coins had been cleaned. So I go with the advice of "don't clean"

 

Did you compare the coins under high magnification before cleaning them? How long after cleaning did you look at them under high magnification? Immediately? Or did you return to look at them a month or two later to see if the cleaned coins were still noticeably different? Trying to ask if the noticeable cleaning would have gradually subsided with time.

 

The Altered Color is what gets me when I am buy exceptional coins that look great...They are certainly not been cleaned but the debate or grade given by NGC is another thing...I worry often times buying ungraded coins because NGC does not give a grade above Uncirculated Details...which is great if you have a coin that is a AU 58 or MS 60....But if you have a coin that is a MS65 and it comes back uncirculated Details...you have just lost hundreds of Dollars with a bad purchase...Any advice from the Pro's

 

I agree with others here. Until you are truly a bona fide expert, soaking with acetone, (not nail polish remover, go to a hardware store and get pure acetone), then a rinse with distilled water, (not from tap, buy a jug or collect condensate from AC unit), and you have almost no chance of hurting anything. Other than that leave it alone, especially bullion. Who cares what bullion looks like? If its not bullion, but a collectible coin, then anything other that what I said you most likely will harm the coin. Soap can actually contain tons of chemicals that can harm the coin long term, and rubbing on a coin, especially an uncirculated one, will also harm it.

I have been around coins close to 50 years now, and I only use acetone, distilled water, verdicare to remove bronze disease on ancients, and ren wax on some ancients, (like the ones treated for bronze disease).

 

never mind