Is that worth it? I am more reluctant to do that. This is nt nicest of all the IKES I picked up in the mint sets, Diping it seems overkill and potentially harmful.
" It's the terror of knowing what cleaning is about Watching some good coins screaming 'Let me out' Pray tomorrow gets me cleaner, clean Pressure on people, people cleaning coins."
Dipping can be somewhat controlled by not using it at full strength. It's a chemical mix, and can be diluted in water ( distilled usually, although I have not seen any difference ). a 20-25% dip solution takes longer, but you can see and stop if any problem starts to show. I use a soft artist brush to move the solution over the coin, rather than the brush touching the coin. But it would pay to practice with a unwanted coin and see what happens ( I only use it on silver coins) Do not dilute the whole bottle, just a little in a separate container and throw it away as most of the cleaning reaction is greatly reduced. Results may vary , so if it feels wrong to anyone, do not do it. Its an experiment Jim
I share your reluctance. Certainly try water and/or acetone first. If neither of those work, think about whether you want to try anything else. If you use a chemical dip on a clad coin, it may well look uglier when you're done.
What if a meteor comes screaming in out of the sky and squishes everyone into pasty dust? What if a lightening bolt flashes in and burns everything into a crisp? You rinse the coins off then blast them with the steam. Coins are made of METAL ... NOT TISSUE PAPER OR FINE CRYSTAL. We're not talking about coins of zillion $$$ values. We're talking about pocket change here. We're talking about coins that in 100-years will still be the same value clean, dirty, scratched, polished, whatever. You wouldn't have any need to clean a proof or an MS coin. I deal with kids that could change their minds any given day and want to dump their collections for pizza and pop. These are coins that have been circulated and are showing general wear.
So I think the Acetone did get the water spots off the 1973-D IKE. I will post pictures tonight. I had less luck getting the smudge off the Dutch coin.. Other coins come out nice. I have an old subway token that has actually tone now. WHo would had thought.
The problem with 'steam' cleaning is that there can be impurities in the water, solids included, they hit at high pressure and bang pockmarked coin....
If the coins have been washed with nice soapy water and then rinsed, you gotta be seriously kidding if you believe some kinda impurities in the water are gonna make any difference. I originally got this way to clean from jewelers cleaning stuff such as rings, necklaces, pendants, broaches et-freaking-al. PRECIOUS METALS and GEMSTONES for Criminey Peete’s sake. Some of you guys are talking about ACETONE ... and you’re worried about steam?!? You RINSE the coin first. ... NO ABRASIVE METALS are left on the coin.
Funny thing about gemstones -- they're harder than coins. Less easy to scratch. Funny thing about rings, necklaces, pendants et-freaking-al -- they don't have flow lines, so they don't have "original surface" luster, and you're expected to polish them to make them shiny. If you don't understand how coin surfaces are different, that's fine, but I hope you don't ruin too many coins that will someday go to another collector.
It’s also a funny thing about grasping for straws and coming up with over-the-top goofy situations that you try to fit your situation. There is NO freakin’ abrasive metal. Even if there was, the coin would have been washed and rinsed BEFORE the steam. There’s also nothing in the water to cause any issues ... unless your tap comes directly from a supply source with ZERO filtration. The steam is used as a finishing agent to actually dry the coin so that it doesn’t have to be touched any further. We’re talking about steam here, which at my house comes from a simple counter-top espresso machine. We’re NOT talking about any military sand-blaster used to clean ship hulls for repainting. If you don’t understand that true hard-core experts like yourself just maybe sometimes have to realize someone might just have a good workable idea, that’s fine, but I hope you don’t continue not seeing anything outside your own unaccepting box.
