is soaking coins in hot water and using soap considered cleaning, just to get light dirt off or anything, your not really using any harsh products on them or anything, rich
Depends on what brand of soap. Also, using a Brillo pad with the hot water and a little Lava Soap may just give a coin a slight cleaning effect. Better to just spray the coin with 409 or Fanstastic, then use a toothbrush and rinse with a good Vinegar. The coin will now smell just like a salad, look pretty and be free of bacteria. In reality some dish soaps will change a Silver coin blue.
Carl ya gotta start using those smiley icons or people are gonna take ya serious Yes - using soap is considered cleaning. Soap will also leave a residue on the coins that will often cause them tone in very unusual ways & colors given time. It may even lead to corrosion. Never use soap on coins.
Your probably right there GDJMSP, but I usually try to add a note after something stupid so people would know not for real. Such as that part about dish soap. I did lots of experimenting on cheap coins to see the results of things like different soaps, battery acids, Vinegars, lemon juice, etc. All actually ruined the coins because the cleaning effects were just to noticeable. And yes the dish soap did turn the coins a bluish color.
One experimental method for potentially improving the look of an ugly circulated coin is to just carry it around in your pocket for a couple of months with a few other coins [and don't accidently spend it]. I would think the rubbing and contact with the other coins would improve the look of the coin at the cost of a little wear. This doesn't seem to be very different from what naturally occurs with coins in circulation. So your AU58 ugly coin might turn out to be an AU55 with more eye appeal. Caution: I haven't actually tried this yet, but I might.
Just A Tip For Getting Tape Off Of The Encapsulated Coins Shell:spray A Verrrry Small Amount Of Wd 40 In The Glue Which Will Dissolve The Tape And It Can Be Rubbed Off With Your Finger. The Smell Will Soon Go Awy After Exposed To Air.
WD-40????????? Then what? Light the coin? Please read the can. Contains Petroleum Distillates. Caution, contents are Flammable. That stuff will remove some of the dirt, leave an oily film, be harmful to your lungs, ruin the coin more than lemon juice. As for putting one in your pocket, remember it will come out scratched, worn and just as dirty as when it went in. True that the smell will go away after a while but the oily film will persist. That is the idea of WD-40. To leave a film of oil. You may as well just use the Brillo pad I was kidding about. For anyone here that is new you'll find that about once a month on this forum and many others there is always that same question. How to clean coins. And basically there will be lots of discussions but the real thing is to leave well enough alone.
I tried the WD-40 method on a circulated morgan dollar that was encrusted with something that adhered to the surface. I soaked it for about 3 days. It removed whatever it was on the surface and the coin really looked a lot better and even retained original toning common to morgans that WD-40 apparently doesn't harm. Unfortunately, it also revealed a badly damaged spot on the obverse, but that was there before the soaking. Depending on how bad the coin is to start with, this doesn't seem to be a bad treatment when the coin isn't worth the cost of professional conservation.
I think he was talking about removing tape residue from a slab, he said "For Getting Tape Off Of The Encapsulated Coins Shel" [emphasis mine]. I don't think he was advocating using WD-40 on the coins themselves.
I Meant To Use The W.d.40 Onlt On The Slab To Get Tape And Glue Off. Ihave Never Used Wd 40 On A Coins Surface.sorry About The Misunderstanding!
When a coin is pretty far gone, it can be worth a shot to experiment on it with various "home remedies." The WD-40 no doubt leaves a film on the coin, as pointed out, but it seemed to have decent restoration properties with no scrubbing to cause hairlines, and didn't seem to disturb the natural toning as dipping would. Other than the pre-existing surface damage, it now looks like a passable circulated coin. Maybe I was lucky that whatever was on the coin was something WD-40 easily removed. I agree 100% that this is not a recommended cleaning method, since such a thing doesn't exist, but I'd be interested in any comments from people with a knowledge of chemistry on whether this harms the surface in any way. If it does, I can't detect it [not that this means much since I'm not an expert]. I love cleaning threads. They're fun and evoke passionate responses!
Please remember that any type of coin cleaning will help distroy the coin to some extent. You must realize that coin dirt is not always dirt. Much of the stuff you see on coins is a contaminate that is formed from something in the air or where the coins has been. Do you know where your coin has been? To note that the removal of any contaminate on any coin will deminsh the coins value and this partially due to the loss of material from the original coin. For istance a copper coin will first oxidize in normal air. This will form a layer of CuO or CuO2 which will further react with the well known SO or SO2 radical in the air which when combines with H OH (hydrogen hydroxide otherwise known as water) will form a Sulfide type of acid. This reacts with the copper on coins and when removed takes away the metal Cu with it. Now if you really want to see a shinny penny, put it in battery acid.
