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Message:: [QUOTE="DW-coins, post: 1309056, member: 33380"]Back in the 1950's there was a notion that no one should have dull or grimy coins and that cleaning them didn't matter. Some coin mag's even had articles about how to do this, often time rubbing them with baking soda and water. King Farouk was a big time believer in this and ALL of his coin were cleaned this way. As you can probably guess, a scouring agent like baking soda will leave hundreds of small hairlines where the metal was gouged. Most likely this was when the coins were cleaned. However, there's a coin shop near me called The Treasure Trove" and has been in business for 48 yrs and he STILL does this to nearly every raw coin that comes thru his shop. One day he actually showed me how I should "clean" them so I know this first hand and not thru hearsay. As I watched him wet the coin and put it in the big bucket of baking soda I could feel the blood drain from my head as he was rubbing the coin between his thumb and fingers and all I could say was that I didn't think that was a good idea. He replied that it was fine and that he's been doing it for years. Oy veh...!!![/QUOTE]