A friend of mine gave me a lot of change that he got out of a house that burnt down am I allowed to clean these coins so I can tell what they are and if so how do I do it?
Please be more specific and post some pictures. What do you mean by "cleaning"? That's a very broad term and 99% of the time it means ruining a coin. We can't give any advice without seeing the coins. I'll come back when there are pictures and comment again.
Alright. Looks like soaking them in warm soap and wiping with a non abrasive cloth should be fine. The are just cents. Not mint state Morgan's so it shouldn't be anything too terrible.
Wiping any coin has the potential to do harm, and it is not a practice that any collector would deem correct. I see no upside to these coins, the zinc's are ruined, and the others are to far gone. If you want to try your hand at learning to restore them it would certainly be educational.
Restoring/ and proper cleaning techniques can be found by searching CT's archives. There is more than enough information. Some coins are candidates and will have a better outcome than others.
I agree and disagree. I said warm water and a non abrasive cloth specifically to these Lincoln cents. For these being in a fire, wiping it cant do too much worse. Its different if we were talking about cleaning Morgan dollars. That's a whole different ball game
Personally, I would just take them to the bank or spend them if it were me since they seem to be common Lincoln Memorial Cents unless you just want to practice on conserving fire damaged coins. You can buy wheat cents from a dealer or online for around $.03-$.05. Take those damaged coins to the bank, turn them in and take the money and buy some wheat cents or maybe some buffalo nickels. You would be surprised what cool things you can find for under a dollar on eBay, at a coin show or from a local coin shop.
Ok your right, so I'm gonna go get my metal detector, I'm gonna go find some buffalo nickels in the ground and I won't clean them at all, ill put them in a 2x2 with all the dirt and grime on it. Becuase wiping them off is gonna do some much more damage then they being circulated and dropped in the ground for 50 years.
As I posted to Joy if you spend some time looking at past posts involving restoration and cleaning there are the right ways to restore your nickels, and there are plenty of wrong ways. The lazy way is to wipe wash and scrub. Lets say you found a 1913 type 2 and couldn't tell what it was. And you leave a bunch of hairlines in the patina, because of an improper practice, then you have taken away some of it's value. Good luck!
Those are just modern pennies. Do what you like with them. A common rule among numismatists (coin collectors) is to not attempt to clean any coin that has collector value. Since those are just memorial cents, cleaning isn't much of a problem. If they were old coins with collector value, then cleaning them would destroy that value and make them undesirable. It's great to ask questions before doing anything. People here are more than happy enough to help you with any numismatic interests you may have.
