I was trying to restore the date on one of my SLQ's by soaking it in vinegar (http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t47561/). It is a cleaned coin. I added some salt to the vinegar to strengthen it because not much was going on. It did speed up the restoration and now it is very close, but the thing that I noticed was that it also hid the hairlines from cleaning by giving the coin a gray tone... any ideas what would make that happen? WARNING: I do not recommend this to anyone! It was merely experimental! If you do decide to try it, make sure to monitor it, and if you really screw up your coin, don't blame it on me!
I had a one troy pound silver eagle that was very heavily toned. I placed it in a plastic container with aluminum foil, baking soda, salt and very hot water. It cleaned up beautifly. I rinsed it well in fresh water and let it dry on a paper towel. It looks great! Masterchief
