Welcome coingirl to the forum, acetone , smelly stuff , the few old coins I have will keep their patina . Thats part of the mistique & age thing , you look at those coins and wonder where they've been. Nope don't mess with the patina , its coooooool : )
Possibly a good thing to do as to cleaning anything old is to just watch the TV show called The Antique Road Show. You'll hear many times that statement "If this had not been cleaned, it would have been worth many, many times that". This not cleaning coins is not just a coin thing, it's an old item thing. Don't clean old furniture, guns, knives, etc. Some items do get cleaned but only by professionals that really, really know what they are doing. Ever go to the Museum and see those Mummies. Imagine someone cleaning them? If you don't know what or how to properly clean anything old you could really damage that item. With coins many people just want them to shine and look new again. However, doing this usually removes some of the original metal of the coin. Always best to leave well enough alone. Of course there are those that carry this to extreames with thier cars around me and they look like they could well be an antique.
Depends My own experience~ NEVER EVER clean a coin, unless you need to know what kind of coin it is, what it is stuck to. Perhaps determined the denotation, date, mint mark.:hammer: Cleaning is always BAD. BUT, get over it. I am a coin finder. Some are coin preservers. These folks have (IMHO) the noble option of knowing what they are preserving. If your stash differs, get some distilled water. Let them soak for a while in a neutral container. Repeat.
