Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;adric22, post: 1471108, member: 38146&quot;]I&#039;ve read many websites that says cleaning coins is a big no-no.&nbsp; I have to admit I&#039;m at a loss to comprehend it.&nbsp; Sort of like saying a dirty car is worth more than a clean car.&nbsp; If that were so dealerships would not clean the cars before trying to sell them to people.</p><p><br /></p><p>That being said, I wanted to talk a little about it.&nbsp; I looked through the FAQ on this site and I also searched for the keyword &quot;cleaning&quot; in the forums and to my surprise nothing was found.&nbsp; So I figured I&#039;d just start a thread.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;d like to point out that so far all of the coins I&#039;ve collected are essentially for their bullion value.&nbsp; I only collect silver, gold, copper, and nickel.&nbsp; Mostly silver, though.&nbsp; When buying a coin I never pay more for it than its metal value, with the exception of the American Silver Eagle coins as they tend to go for a small premium.&nbsp; As much as I&#039;d love to have bullion coins with Mr.Spock or other cool things on the front of them, I&#039;m just not willing to pay twice the metal value for stuff like that.&nbsp;&nbsp; However, even though my coins are for investment I still like them to look nice and sometimes I like to just admire them.&nbsp;&nbsp; So I decided to clean some of them recently.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>First I tried this trick I saw on youtube for cleaning silver coins.&nbsp; I put a piece of foil in a bowl and poured hot salt-water solution into it.&nbsp; I dipped the tarnished coin but nothing happened.&nbsp; That is, until I realized I needed to touch the coin to the metal.&nbsp; The reaction was instant.&nbsp; I mean less than a second.&nbsp; I was blown away.&nbsp; Then I realized what was happening and that it was an electric current being created from the two metals.&nbsp;&nbsp; One of my Morgan silver dollars was just nasty and almost black looking.&nbsp; Now it looks shiny and new.&nbsp; I can&#039;t imagine it affected its bullion value any.&nbsp; But it sure is a lot more pleasing to the eye now.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also tried some pennies, just out of sheer curiosity.&nbsp; I had read that I should use vinegar and salt and just let them sit there for 10 minutes, then rinse them in water..&nbsp; I had a whole bunch of old nasty looking wheat-pennies.&nbsp; None of them were worth more than a few cents so I figured what the heck.&nbsp; The odd thing is, most of them came out looking great.&nbsp; But one of them turned black for some reason.&nbsp; It is the same year as several of the other pennies but its like it is made from a different metal. Sorry I can&#039;t remember the year right now as I&#039;m at work.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>However, next I&#039;d like to try on some old silver quarters, dimes, and 40% silver half-dollars.&nbsp; These are all heavily circulated and I can&#039;t imagine they are worth anything other than their bullion value.&nbsp; But being they aren&#039;t pure silver like the Morgan and after the experience i had with the black penny, I&#039;m not sure about trying to clean these type of coins using the same method.&nbsp; So I was looking to see what the preferred method is for those type of coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in