Fellow collectors, There are probably posts on how to clean coins but my problem is as follows. I collect coins since i was 10 years old. I received coins from all over the world from family, friends and friends from friends. I put those coins in coinalbums with plastic strips, see foto. For a long long time i did nothing with my collection of world coins but recently i wanted to sort out the collection and take more care. It turned out that the albums i used in the past were made of plastic that was not really suited for coins. So now they are all 'sticky' and some of the copper/bronze coins turned green, the rim also, see foto. The green comes off when you rub it with a paper kitchen towel but to clean hundreds, and probably a couple of thousand coins this way is going to take a long time. Does anyone know of a method to clean them? Maybe soaking them in soap or degreaser? Thanks in advance, Kees
that's a lot of pvc damage Acetone is what you want. Not finger nail polish. 100% pure acetone from the hardware store. Good luck
Acetone is what you need as mynamespat says. Gently roll a q-tip across the worst surfaces of the coins while in the acetone bath-it really helps without affecting the patina. I too, wish you good luck-be patient with the little round discs...
Mynamespat and laurentyvan, Thank you both for your quick responses. I will try to get pure aceton somewhere and start experimenting on some coins first. Thanks! Kees
Spirityoda, Thanks but we don't have walmart because i live in the Netherlands. But i will try some farmacie nearby. Kees
I'm by no means an expert on the subject, and I'm sure there's many highly debatable ways of cleaning and preserving coins. Personally, with my low/no value coins that I wish to display for my own enjoyment, I use the baking soda bath to blast off the filth and grease and then when dry rub in a little micro crystalline wax polish. The wax barrier gives a pleasant finish and slows or prevents further oxidizing nicely on copper. The "soda bath" gets rid of greasy gunk. I put the coins in a pyrex bowl with a few spoons of Arm & Hammer soda and pour on boiled water.
BusterLuke, Besides collector i'am also a detectorist so sometimes i find coins that need cleaning. However i do not often clean modern coins and especially not in such big quantities. Also cleaning is normally 'not done' with coins but in this case i have to and will try out your method also, thanks for sharing that! Kees
I would not use baking soda. Honestly, Acetone has been being used to clean pvc damage on coins since pvc damages inception. There is a chance that the pvc damage has already caused etching on the more severely damaged coins, but most of the others should come out ok. Go to to the search feature (upper right) for the forum and search "pvc damage" or "acetone". There are coint-less threads discussing the best techniques. (as well as others highly discouraging the use of baking soda)
I know it's not really the 'done thing', but it's my method for easy damage free cleaning just for my own display By the way, with baking soda I wouldn't suggest rubbing the coins with it - more just a quick blast bath to shift dirt etc. Especially coins out of the ground .. I have friends that give me lots of Victorian penny's etc from metal detecting outings - valueless really (after the dates are checked of course). Depends what you want of course, and I'm not trying to start a debate over to clean or not to clean! No Cilit Bang, fiber glass pens, 000 steel wool etc ... although I have of course experimented!
US Coin Guide comment on using baking soda to clean coins: "... it works so well that, like the other coin cleaning brews mentioned here, it can completely strip away the original patina and obliterate the value of the coin." Acetone or distilled water. Dug and corroded or encrusted coins are a different matter.
Ive experimented on cleaning coins too damaged by PVC to be worth anything in the first place. Acetone works best. Ive worked with Nail polish remover, and theres just too much other stuff in there to clean the gunk off. Usually within 12-24 hrs you'll get the majority of gunk off using Acetone. If it doesn't come off, try Ammonia for another 12 hours. If it doesn't come off, then you're pretty much stuck. You don't want to use any acidic cleaners because those eat at the metal, and you don't want to remove rust because that leaves pits in the coin surface (as long as the rust is a light green you should be fine, if its dark, then its rust from the metal not on the surface, and if its white, its in bad shape, though copper shouldn't have white rust). The idea is to remove the heavy dirt and sticky gunk that is deposited on the coins.
Thank you all for all the hints, tips and tricks. I bought little bottles of acetone. Not more than 2 bottles per customer due to regulations?? So i went back the next day and bought 2 more Now i can start cleaning. Just experimented on 2 zinc world war 2 coins from Belgium with some ugly white spots. They almost disappeared, i now conserved the coins with Renaissance microcristaline wax and wil store them in cardboard 2 by 2's. Not the ones you have to staple but the self adhesive ones. Kees
