Cleaning coins what do I do?

I found a 1880 indian head penny in great shape but it has a bunch of gunk on it. I know you should never clean coins but what should you use if it is necessary to clean it?Thanks all help appreciated.

 

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Water and a scrub brush.

 

Start with a water soak; distilled would be preferred.
But don't expect much.

Move on to an acetone soak.
It's VERY good at removing gunk (depending upon what the gunk is).

Don't use abrasive or brushing techniques until you try the above.
If they don't work post an image so that we can see what you're up against.

 

Please don't scrub it. Can you show us an image of both sides first? There may be a way to clean it without killing the value.

 

It is green - ish thick gunk.

 

If you remove the green, you will remove part of the surface of the coin. Best to leave that alone.

 

That coin is to far gone. I had a bunch of early indians like that and i just spent them.

 

Ah ha!
Sounds like PVC.
The coin has already been damaged.
Don't let it get worse.
Use the acetone soak to get it off.

 

Look for clash marks on the reverse like this.

 

The Ebay number is 291459820552 sorry I cant get a link for you.

 

I have never seen a cent that is that bright green. If you won it, try acetone first. No rubbing.

 

OK thanks.

 

Here you go.

Sorry, that's not gunk, that's corrosion -- there are pits in the coin. There's a product called VerdiCare that can get rid of the green stuff, but you'll still be left with a coin that has pits and holes.

There are some safe ways to clean a coin, but this one's already too far gone, I'm afraid.

 

Oh wow. That one has issues.

 

Cool coin for 5 bucks. Likely dropped on the ground in the 1880's and found 100 years later or so by a metal detector. Yes, definitely leave it as is, don't attempt any cleaning on it at all.

 

That is copper oxide. Corrosion, in other words. No way to remove that without removing metal.

 

Not a key date, and if you got it for $5 and want it to look shiny for your collection, I wouldn't worry about the drop in value after cleaning (though yea, if you had an 1877 obviously don't clean it).

 

(Just kidding....)

 

If it's gunk I'm assuming it's either PVC residue or some bio residue that you could possibly remove with acetone. I would resort to using acetone only if distilled water doesn't work.

 

That one is pretty sad. Cheap enough to try and save, though. Did you buy it? Try the acetone, and possibly some toluene or xylene if you have it. VerdiCare could help too, but this might be too thick for just it.