Cleaning a coin

I know most of you have probably heard enough about cleaning coins, but can I just get a straight answer?

The coin I want to clean is a 1886 Morgan dollar, and nothing special about it. But it has a lot of gunk on it, so how do I get it off?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I've heard that submerging it in boiling water sometimes works but it depends on the gunk. If it's sticky gunk, acetone is probably the better bet but if it's just average dirty gunk, the boiling water trick should work.

Ribbit

Ps: Use tweezers to hold it while dipping it into the boiling water and line it with something soft. Best bet is to place a wash cloth around the edge and then clamp the tweezers onto the coin where the wash cloth is.

Pps: Welcome to CoinTalk! :hail:

 

Thanks. But it is not really dirt-gunk, it is hard brown rusty stuff. I tried the boiling water thing, but it only took of a little, but the rest remains. It is very hard, and sort of like corrosion-rust-dirty stuff.

 

Welcome! I don't know what "a lot of gunk" really is. It would be helpful if you could post a photo or a scan. Maybe it isn't as bad as you think and should be left alone. Maybe it's beyond help. It's difficult to know without seeing it.

 

I'd need to see what the "gunk" is, best post a picture

 

I do not have a camera, but it is brown, hard, and rusty.

 

Electrolysis might work but like everyone says, it would help if we could see the gunk to better know how to remove it.

Ribbit

 

i do not have a camera. but it is like hard dirt and corrosion mixed together

 

Do you have a scanner ?
rzage