I'm new to cointalk.com so I appreciate any help you can give me. I know it is advised against cleaning coins, but I have a small personal collection that I don't intend to sell, and sometimes I prefer to try to clean dirt off a coin so it might have a more pleasing appearance for me. I bought a "coin wash" that I use from time to time. I've never had any negative results with it previously. The manufacturer is German, and by translating the label, it seems to contain <5% nonionic surfactants, alcohol, fragrance and dye - though it doesn't really seem any more powerful than soapy water. Here is a link to a place selling it: http://www.safealbums.co.uk/Zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=114_189&products_id=356 Today I tried to clean three 1928 Irish coins together, which are each made of 75% silver and 25% copper. The coins just had minor dirt on them, though the rims were reasonably dirty. I left the coins soaking in the coin wash for somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour before removing them to rinse in water. When I took the coins out of the wash, I noticed that one coin had left a mark on another, which appears blackish blue, and looks almost like some kind of chemical reaction to me. I'm attaching a picture. I'm just wondering if anyone might recognise what has happened here, and maybe know of a way to "undo" the damage. If not, I'll take this as my lesson not to try to clean coins again! Thanks in advance.
No idea how to fix it. Are you sure all the coins were the same alloy? The first thing that comes to mind is dissimilar metal corrosion.
The only way to undo this damage is not to clean coins. This is why cleaning coins is not a good idea. You run the risk of further damaging the coin, and lowering the value.
The listed ingredients should not by themselves do such. Was it "virgin wash"? never used with other coins? Thinking dissolved components might have caused the effect. If the mark is totally undesired, then a silver dip might remove much of it if it is a silver based tone/corrosion. It will also probably affect the patina of the rest of the coin, and dipping is not accepted by all, but in some cases, it is for some, and this might be such a case. Your choice , mileage may vary. Jim
WELCOME TO THE FORUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM As already noted cleaning a coin is not the best thing to try. You could use the tab at the top for Search and type in Cleaning coins, coin cleaning, Acetone, etc. and come up with numerous posts about this subject. As to your coin, does appear to have the mark of the edge of another coin. My suggestion is since it is obviously messed up already, continue the same process with whatever you were doing before. From what it sounds like you were doing more than one coin at a time in the same solution. It is possible that there was a reaction between two of the coins where they touched due to the chemical solution. Try using the same solution but with only that coin. Nothing to loose now so give it a try. More than likely it will not work but if it does, then you've learned.
That's exactly what it is. As desertgem suggested, at this point dipping the coin is about your only option. And odds are, it will only make things worse. I'd not use that stuff you bought anymore if it were me.
