Here is possibly why so many cleaned coins

I have been having a good time reading some coin magazines from 1961, and decided to show you some pages the average coin collector saw in the press during the early 60s. It explains some questions we have seen about cleaning.

Here is one "SAFE" for proof coins!!


Another "SAFE"!!! and you can get a free cloth for drying or highlighting your coins! "ADDS VALUE" to your coins. WoW!!




Similar, but they charge for the highlighting rag.



Impregnated cotton wadding ~~" Non-abrasive" :whistle:



All came from one issue. SO, wouldn't most average collectors use something like this as they seem so helpful, raise value, and cause no harm?

ALSO, about one every few months a "1943 copper cent" shows up. Here may be a good reason why.




And just for chuckles, here is a page of Lincoln Cents pricing



Now where did I park the DeLorean with the flux capacitor??

Jim

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I guess BI "Brilliant Instantly" was a cousin of BU grades in those days.

Great stuff here!

So will they be saying this about MS-70 Cleaner, Verdi-gone, et al. in the days to come.

 

Those ads rock! Thanks for sharing those. The only one I've seen before was the "brilliantize". It's absolutely no wonder so many coins were ruined.

 

Which makes you wonder how any coin that was 100 years old or more would have escaped being cleaned over all the years. Just think how many coins one collector or one dealer could clean in a year's time. You would think a very limited amount of anything that would have been in collectors hands through the years would have been left uncleaned. Especially when cleaning them at the time made them "more valuable". Why wouldn't all the dealers have cleaned and polished up everything?

The TPGs almost have to relax their standards somewhat or they wouldn't be able to slab much.

 

If I sent them a check, do you think that the Beacon Hill Coin Company will honor my order for some of their Lincoln Specials?

 

Krispy, I suspect there will be more wailing about the modern mint products changing over the years. If there is spotting now, it won't get better over the years. I would put similar money on intercept technology and verdigone showing up well over the years. Are TPG slabbed coins airtight from paper labels used inside them? No bets on MS-70 as I don't use or advocate it due to the oil ingredient.

In the year 2020, Numismatic Nanotech, a company owned by Cointalk members will produce nanobots that can clean all corrsion, and unwanted toning from all coins. Scratches and cleaning effects can be remove from altered surfaces by nanopulse lasers, leaving the surface within original specifications. Want your MS-61 1914D upgraded to a MS-69 or better? We can do it!! Name our mascot and the winner receives one free upgrade!:thumb:

Jim

 

But what if the nanobots grow tired of being enslaved by humans and revolt? They would go all terminator on our coins! :smile

 

Thing is back then they had different standards and they did not look at it as ruining a coin far from it it was seen as enhancing LOL I can remember my father cleaning British copper cus people wanted to buy nice shiney coins He also set a number of pennies in clear plastic as paper weights LOL

 

That is really neat stuff, 1914-D in fine condition $40.. ahh

 

Fun stuff to read. The first ad is really interesting. The Brilliantize kit had a bottle of #1 and a #2. The #2 would preserve the brilliancy that #1 gave the coin but was also good for cleaning badly tarnished and spotted coins. What a great product.

 

May sound funny by todays standards but when I was a kid, cleaning coins was common and actually necessary. If you collected coins and showed them to anyone, usually the first thing you would hear is "Those sure are dirty. Why don't you clean them up so they look nice?" And we did. Back then an antique was just something in a museum, not some item you found in change. Coins were supposed to look pretty in your Whitman Folder. Articles like those were seen but no one I knew ever purchased that stuff. Way to expensive for most. Every one I knew that collected coins would use either Lemon Juice, Vinegar but the most common was baking soda and water paste. Rubbing with that really cleaned coins but really didn't make them look new. For a newer look we used to go out to our Dad's car, open the battery and using a turkey baster, take out some of the Acid. When most coins were left in that stuff, they would come out looking like new. That practice was only as good as when your Dad did not see that. If he did, that would stop since you had a really sore rear to remember not to do it again.
All sounds horrible but then back when I was a kid coins such as Standing Liberty Quarters were as common as a State Quarter today. Roosevelt Dimes were just coming out, Walking Liberty Halves were used all the time and even Indian Cents were still in change. We used to play games with all coins by throwing them on sidewalks to see who could get the closest to the lines between the slabs. Coins were for shooting at with your favorite BB gun, throwing across a river, throwing in wishing wells, drilling to make jewlery for some girl, placing on RR tracks and almost anything else possible to do with coins.
And back then even old furniture was just something to break up and use in bon fires, not sell as antiques. And remember a car was only about $400 to $600 too.

 

Now doug who would make a comment about your age?? Not me...nope never..of course I wasn't around to read those in 1961, but still interesting reading. Wasn't tell the late 60's, early 70's that I was interested. And I believe my father bought the blue every couple of years. Everything we found was pocket change only or from searching grandma's coins - what we collected was not worth cleaning. It went straight into the wheatie jar or into one of our whitman albums. Now Doug, tell the truth - is that one certain gold coin you post on occasion, and in such fine shape, from your youth? And it must be that because of your grandfather's advice you kept it in original mint condition.

PS - Your grandfather was a smart man.

 

The thing I remember most from the mid 50's (my collecting "prime") other than the baking soda trick Carl mentioned above, was sitting around the lunch table in the school cafeteria, rubbing liquid mercury into "mercury" dimes... talk about "proof-like"!

 

Whoa...rubbing liquid mercury into the Mercury Dimes. I hope nobody decided to boil the mercury first because if they did it would explain the "mad-hatter" like behavior of some coin collectors I know. :smile

 

I like the bottom of the "Brilliantize" ad...

I wonder how that will work in an eBay ad...:thumb:

 

Oh, ye good olde daze.

Except for the car prices. $40 to $60 would get you a fixer~upper!

 

Some of the ads for paper money and for the exotics make the old issues so much fun. Q.David Bowers has an ad in it, and his offerings are so diverse. A lot of patterns and rarities. The BU St. Gaudens are $43-48, so I keep using this as a reference.

Wonder if in 50 years, people will read old Coin World issue and wonder how their grandpa could have not save all of those BU IKEs from the bank. Wonder what Ebay will be like

Jim

 

Oddly enough I've still got all the coins I collected from when I was a kid. My first coin was a 1943 Lincoln Cent and I still have that one. I know we distroyed tons of coins but the ones I collected I still have. I think I've stil got a few of the ones we altered but can't find them lately. Old age you know.