Cleaning Solutions at a Coin Shop

Yesterday while on lunch I ran by the local coin shop to see if thay had anything new (cheap) that I was looking for; while browsing the wall, there was a lady buying a bunch of collecting supplies and I heard her ask, ""If you are not supposed to clean coins, then why do they sell Coin Cleaning Solvents???" as she was holding a bottle of Coin Solv...

The guy behind the counter looked kind of annoyed and said, "Because people will buy it."...


Then he said, "A lot of people don't really care about the numismatic value of a old coin or not as much as they do if its shiney"... He said if they never really plan on selling them, they might not care what others value them at...


This made me wonder how many people out there do clean coins???


Any of you clean coins??? Be honest...



I don't or not usually don't as I'm know for sure that I don't know anything about the process...

I think the only ones I've cleaned was the three or four I found out in my yard w/ my metal detector... They were about 6-8" deep in the packed soil, heavy with clay...

I found a 1907 Indian Cent, a 1965 and 72 Quarter, Can't remember the year Mercury Dime and a few beer tabs...

So I dropped them in the wifes ultrasonic jewlery cleaner with hot water to clean'em up and see what they were... Nothing special, all very circulated..

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I have never cleaned any coins in my collection. Back years ago when I first started collecting, the first thing I learned from my long time coin dealer/friend was to never ever clean a coin. I do remember a little cleaning kit that used to be on the market for cleaning coins. It came with the cleaning solution and what looked like two little wire brushes. I dont think they make these anymore, I hope not! I feel sorry for the collectors that cleaned their coins this way. These looked something similar to this......

 

I'm not sure I would consider that cleaning, as the ultrasound would have no effect of any kind on the metal, flow lines, or surface, as long as there was no soap or other cleaning agent in the water.

 

Back in the 60's when I was a kid we would put that stuff on the Buffalo nickels to make the date show. Do people still do that?

PS
it did not work on silver only nickel

 

I think this is what you're talking about Philly Dog. I think there are people out there that actually use this. I dont know how effective it is as I've never used it.

 

That is it

It works but leaves traces

I guess a date is better then no date

 

I clean ancients all the time...as for other coins...If I get a coin that has some kind of crap on it...I will soak them in distilled water. I have done this with quite a few old (but modern) coins. Some coins I have gotten have a tar like spot on them or some kind of thick black spotty crud on them...often times around the inscription or on the face...who knows what it is, certainly isnt toning...probably just build-up of dirt from circulation...some times you can just pop it off with a fingernail, most times it sticks. So I plop it in a bit of distilled water and often times it will soften and you can just lightly rub it off...if it is a circulated coin....lite rubbing will not harm it at all....after years of cirulation, no one will wil know if you let it sit in water for a bit or rubed it a bit...Thats as much as I will do to a modern coin.

Ancients..I will scrub those suckers good

 

NIC-a-date works. I used to get no date buffs for face in the 70's and use that on mintmarked coins, you'd find key dates. I could get about 10% of the Good price for them on a bidboard.

 

I sometimes take the dirt stuck in a heavily worn coin's legend out with a toothpick.....otherwise I don't clean any of my coins.

 

I did once, to my 09 S VDB cent. It was really black and brown, and was sort of ugly. Here is a pic of it I took before I cleaned it. Here it is after, and I think it looks much better than it did.

Phoenix

 

Now how many of you took me serious? lol, My joke for the day.

Phoenix

 

you had me fooled until I scrolled down...I am not even an anti cleaning nut and I was about to rant

 

I occasionally let my son dip 40% kennedies in the silver jewelry dip as the coins are only worth the metal content anyway.

I also may use acetone on proof coins I find in circulation, but nothing abrasive, not even a napkin.

Other than that, I don't clean anything else I find. Either it's a keeper, or I spend it.

 

Here's a guy that sells the acid nickels. It was amazing how many tough dates I brought back with date acid stuff. I got to the point that I couldn't sell anymore.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1916D-ACID-DATE...yZ142502QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

He seems to want 50% of good price, I think 10-20% is more inline for these fillers.

 

I cleaned a couple when I was a kid, before I knew any better.

 

Thats kinda what I thought to but the day I did it I posted about it on another forum and the coin police jumped my butt from 3-4 different directions....

I didn't see anyway that it could hurt the coin as nothing was removing any metal or changing its finish...

 

So I can use a strong acid solution on a no date nickel to remove enough dirt around the date to make the date readable again with the naked eye?

Is there any good guides for doing this (as far as does/don'ts etc...)?

 

it eats away part of the coin, something like restoring a filed off serial number on a pistol, it leaves an ugly yellowish spot, nothing for advice, but it does work.

 

If you saw the cleaning sacs thread I think you know my stance on it.
I know I'll catch some flak, my how I see it is.

If if isn't worth much to begin with (<$20) and it is dirty to the point were no one will buy it (sticky, crud) a little cleaning can only improve.

 

he says he is sorry