Can you "unclean a coin" ?

Can you speed up the process by using one of those rock tumblers at very slow speed and put the coin in with some junk coins ?

 

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If it was cleaned and polished, why did you buy it? I would not try to undo it, but I would try to undo the purchase. Another idea, just keep it. Good luck.

 

$$$ Extremely valuable coin in any condition. Extremely low mintage.
Got a very good deal. I think the mintage was 700,000 or so. Also got tired of looking at that hole in my album.

 

If your only goal is to remove the cleaning yea you can, but whether or not it would grade is a different story. If you do enough coins some might straight grade but some will certainly get a details grade

 

@Rocksprings As others have stated, it is not possible to "unpolish" a coin; for a coin that has been cleaned by chemical means or with mild abrasive it is possible to have it retone and look more acceptable, but to the trained eye, it will almost always be detectable as having been cleaned or polished.

For a bronze coin (95% Copper, 5% Tin + Zinc) such as your 1877 IHC, there are commercial products that will tone it to a shade of brown. I'm not going to mention a particular one since I have not personally used them; if you do a Google search for "what can be used to tone a bronze coin" you will find several products mentioned. Also, searching under "coin supplies" will return Wizard Coin Supply and several others that carry products for both "cleaning or dipping" and for "preservation".

Practicing on a common bronze cent ( has to be mostly RED) that you have first "cleaned" (if you don't have a commercial dip you can use the juice of a lemon) should give you a good idea of the final result after treatment with the commercial toning product. A photo of your coin would have been helpful for the Community to suggest a course of action, or not, if too far altered.

 

No

 

I did this witha set of BU Canadian coins in 1967 because I wanted the toning. It worked over about a 6 month period as i recall, and then I turned them over to do the reverse sides. I liked the speeded-up aging look!

 

I've "uncleaned" thousands of coins. It's a complex flow chart but they are really pretty simple steps once you get a little experience. Copper works best and silver less so. Nickel and cu/ni are hardest. First you try to figure out why it looks cleaned. If there is "mechanical damage" then it will require a mechanical solution. "Polishing" for instance is mechanical and the coin will have to be worn down below the current surface. This can take one to five grades depending on the severity of the damage and whether or not the polishing extends to all the low spots. Most "cleaning" is more a chemical damage and all it really needs is color change. Start by making sure the coin is clean and stable so it doesn't spot. Then it's simply a matter of exposing it to harsh conditions like a furnace where there are dust, fumes, and heat. Periodic light abrasion helps so shake it with a bunch of other coins once in a while.

Thee are various means to speed it up but any coin carried as pocket change will look normal in time. It's very easy to spend or lose these pocket pieces though.

Now days people pay good money for worn out coins but I can't wear them out like I did in my youth.

Any "uncleaning" will remove at least one whole grade. Anything that adds a grade or doesn't remove a grade is "doctoring" which is even worse than "cleaning". I always joked that the box of coins on my furnace was a "hospital" but the coins that were "discharged" were always a little worse for wear.