Cleaned my first coin....

If your serious spend some time on this forum first and go to the search thing at the top and type in things like cleaning coins or coin cleaning or Acetone.

 

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Not sure where you've been looking but at flea markets around me that is not only common, but sometimes for less, much less, than melt value. I actually bought one for $1.

 

Wow a lot of thought, plus talk went into "a whole lot of nothing" here

Wow a lot of thought, plus talk went into "a whole lot of nothing" here so I will try to turn it into some talk worth having.

Yes it looks a little better but even in MS-71 it's to me a boring state quarter no matter what.
If you learned something that's fine. These are certainly the type of coins you should practice on that's for sure.

I'll tell you something though, modern coinage does not hold up well at all - I run across cents with zinc rot, clad coins from current years turning green, black and purple and not the nice purple.
It's an amazement to me that I can pull out 1954 cents behind me that are MS-66 Red and get rolls of the new cents that are spotted black, freckled, and worthless just weeks or months after leaving the very same minting facility and 55 years worth of modern techknowledgey forward.

I tell you the truth many times while searching just turned in Lincoln's from the 1990's or past ten years I literally throw them in the trash to save someone else from having to stop up someones CoinStar with them.

But one thing is certain and BadThad knows it as much as I do - these moderns especially Lincoln's that remain gems will one day be worth more that gold because they are hard to find and keep perfect.
Out of a brinks box of 2500 I find about 150 to 250 coins that are good enough for me to offer - that's a fact. Plus out of those maybe 2-dozen that I would keep for my set - that ain't many at all!

 

The gospel brother, too bad it will probably take another 50+ years for collectors to realize this. Someday a lot of people will be fighting over the prime examples.

 

Yes I did learn several things. That cleaning a coin can be very entertaining on this forum. I also know that while this is a common coin I still want more of the extra cactus variety - and if I find another one with green stuff I will try something different. NEVER would I try this on one of older coins. Yet - I do not fault those that do.

And the rose thorn and oil - not enough patience to do it. I went and plucked one off one of my roses and worked on a 1990's lincoln. While it did get some of the dirt out of the devices - it took too much time. So I will pass on this method.

 

Step 2: After a nice dipping, place coin in oven and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes on each side.

 

This is the problem with insufficient information that may well be harmfull to a coin. For example 10 to 15 minutes is to ambiguous. Need more specific timing. It was not mentioned on what rack in the oven the coin should be on. Not covered what type of material the coin shold be resting on. Not explained why not just stand the coin up rather than turning over.

 

You may have noticed that most of the comical type of posts are actually purposely made excessive to drive home a point about cleaning coins. And many use those silly funny faces also. Naturally there is always someone that could actually believe that soaking a coin in battery Acid for 10 years would clean it but this is why we usually stive to make it sound comical.

 

How ture how ture

 

Also the origin of the raw potato before baking is important due to the amount of sulfur the tuber ( as a root crop) absorbed from the ground. An Idaho potato from land served by the Snake river is much higher in sulfur compounds than those irrigated by ground water or other sources. Also the potato must be started raw and unpeeled as sulfur dioxide from the degenerating sulfur containing amino acids such as cysteine can escape from a peeled one. If you are considering french fries or boiled potatoes, treatment leaved them with approx. 1/2 (french fried) and 1/4 (boiled) ,the amount of sulfur as the raw one. The question is often asked...." Can I eat the potato" when finished?" If feasible, the potato should be disposed. If times are bad, potatoes that contained silver coins is less of a health problem than copper or copper/zinc.

Jim

 

lol

 

Potatoes from Costa Rica and Nicaragua are also excellent to use, what with the volcanic soils in those areas. :thumb: But if you happen to live there, you can use the oldest method known, which is to wrap it in aluminum foil and toss it into one of the live volcanoes (don't forget to include the GPS homing device so you can find it after the volcano has spit it out).

Ribbit

 

I Wonder if I will get smacked if I sell Snake River Potatoes on the bay? Better not, someone will claim they are "juiced".

You know I did not just make up that post, I researched quite a bit on it. There is not much info on sulfur and potatoes. I didn't quote the article that said the bacteria in the large intestine can release the sulfur gas from potatoes ( wonder what beans or Jack's salsa would do). DO NOT TAKE ZINC containing coins internally!!! Now Boss will be swallowing silver dimes and collecting samples. Is that NT ? or AT by intent/time?

Jim ( true, but just joking newbies)

 

Let me just make one more point. If someone wants to clean a coin for his own personal collection, he or she has every right to do that and I don't think it reflects on their ethics as a dedicated numistmatist(?).( You'd think I'd know how to spell that word by now.) Unless they distribute these coins to others regardless of their rationalization that it won't degrade the respect of numistmatics in other collectors eyes. That definately would be and is debasing us.

 

The things you learn on this site. How to bake a coin and still have a potato to eat. Now snake river is an old lava flow - really never knew that.

 

I really don't want to use it after my near death experience will a merc. I would insist on my Wrights-Silver Cleaner.

 

TOO funny.

 

believe that soaking a coin in battery Acid for 10 years would clean it but this is why we usually stive to make it sound comical.

I don't recall anyone suggesting battery acid for ten years. I guess exaggerating heightens the comic effect, with the intention of grouping all the "cleaners" together for ridicule. Easy to do with such an exaggeration. I guess that is the process known as coin politics.