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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 63265, member: 112&quot;]I can remember back in 1960 the very first thing my grandfather told me about collecting coins was - &quot;don&#039;t ever clean a coin&quot;. Of course my response was &quot;why ?&quot; His answer was because it reduces the value and can damage the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now that was the short and sweet explanantion given to a 7 yr old. It satisfied me. That doesn&#039;t mean I listened to him though. For the very first coins in my collection, 2 dimes given me by my grandmother dated 1903 &amp; 1910 - their brthdates - I cleaned. I wanted them nice and shiny - thought it made &#039;em look better. I couldn&#039;t see that it damaged them in any way. It didn&#039;t matter to me that they had kept these coins as they found them for 40 years. But that&#039;s when I was 7.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today I can look at those 2 coins and plainly see the damage I did to them - the fine scratches that cover the surface where I removed the dirt and toning. Of course they&#039;ve retoned to a degree 45 years later - but the scratches are still there. They won&#039;t ever go away. And no matter what - I can never return those coins to their original state as they were when I received them. That above all else bothers me. But I didn&#039;t realize it when I was 7.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now that&#039;s the best explanation I can give you for NOT cleaning coins. It may not make sense to you or seem like sound reasoning. But it does to me, and I&#039;m sure it does to others. Even so - your question is a valid one. And it is a question that had a far different answer at one point in time.</p><p><br /></p><p>For prior to 1900, perhaps even into the &#039;30s, cleaning coins WAS the accepted practice among many collectors. The thinking was that it made the coins look better. Among those that clean coins that thinking is still the same even today. But there were always those who thought differently about this. Those who believed that the originality of the coin - keeping it as you found it was of paramount importance. They believed that cleaning the coin would destroy this originality and the history that went along with it. And they also recognized, even back then, what cleaning does to a coin. The additonal marks and scratches that are imparted to the surface of the coin - the damage that can never be changed or removed once it occurs.</p><p><br /></p><p>Over the years, collectors opinions on the subject of cleaning began to change. They began to see the wisdom in the thinking of those who would not clean coins. They began to accept the beauty of toning and the preservation of original surfaces. They began to realize that cleaning damaged the coins - permanently. Until it reached the point that cleaning was considered anathema by the vast majority of collectors - a capital crime if you will. And so it is today.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now perhaps this thinking will change in the future. But I rather think it will not. It took 2,000 years for it to reach this point and I suspect it will remain for another 2,000.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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