To clean or not to clean?

I hear mixed reports about whether you should clean coins or not. So I was wondering what I should do with some George V half-crown coins that I recently bought. They have nasty green stains on them, like below.

If I was to clean them what is the best method for removing this stuff? Most of the coins are the .5 silver, .5 copper variety, but I also have a few George VI's with .5 silver, .4 copper, .05 nickel, .05 zinc.

I am not too concerned about how they look, as I mostly like coins for their precious metal content, but obviously I don't want them corroding away to nothing!

 

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Truly, you shouldn't be reading mixed messages about cleaning coins since in almost every instance it will result in a loss of investment. Of course, those instances where there is PVC deposited on the coin should be addressed differently. It appears your coin has PVC on it and if you are familiar with how to handle acetone in a safe manner and how to dispose of it safely then you may use it to remove the PVC slime, but will be left with any underlying damage to the metal.

 

Thanks for the advice. The coins do have a nasty sticky feeling to them. I'll get hold of some acetone and have a go at them.

 

I am what you might call con on the subject of cleaning coins. My feelings are simply if it's a substance on the coin that soaking in warm water can remove, such as the case of an OP on this forum had an old coin with stuck on maple syrup and which he soaked in warm water to loosen the syrup to easily remove it without scraping it off, then a rinse, and pat dry; by all means proceed ahead taking great care to not rub, or wipe dry the coin.

Other types of substances, such as what is on your coin(s), I would leave as is for the simple reason to retain as much of the coins value, rather than diminish it.

 

But attempting to remove that would it not reduce the value more than leaving it as is?

 

Do a search on this forum for Acetone, coin cleaning, cleaning coins, etc. Usually you'll find that most will say not to clean coins. Yet most will also say Acetone dipping is OK since it does not hurt the coins. All true.
However, there are some things you should think about. Not cleaning a coin is for the future value of those coins. If you have no intention of selling your coins, not interested in giving them to someone, don't care about leaving them to someone, then cleaning them is just whatever YOU like.
Excessive cleaning and some even slight cleaning lowers the value. If you ever watch the Antique Road Show on TV you will hear them say that about almost anything old. If you didn't clean this it would have been worth xxxx more.
However, if it's just for yourself, it's no ones buisness what you do with your property. If you want all your coins to look new, no intension of selling, clean away, those are yours.
I'm a little not to sure sometimes as to excessive protection of something I own. I always remember a car I used to have. I washed it every week. Waxed the heck out of it. Had seat covers on it so not to ruin the seats. Ever wonder why you use floor mats in your car? Protecting the floor for the future? One day I sold that car and it still looked new after several years. Someone I know said that the person that bought it totaled it out the second week he had it and it is now in a junk yard.
So we protect our coins for tomorrow? Then we pass away and someone inherits the mess and it ends up being sold at a flea market where little kids handel those coins with sticky fingers.
Regardless, I still handle my coins as if they will be mine forever.
So back to you. Dip them in Acetone, rinse with distilled water, blow dry and place in a 2x2 for tomorrow.

 

I wonder how not cleaning coins never bothered the europeans they dont have a problem with even harshly cleaned coins

 

the only value a coin has is what you can enjoy it in your life time after you are gone it drops to a 0 for you at least.

 

Post 1919 brit coins actually had an amount of manganese (so the cu content is less than .4) added, I cannot find the exact %. But, this is what causes the black color those coins develop. As for the green, as already mentioned, acetone will probably remove that.

 

so we will have to continue our tirade against the tpgs ?

but surely you agree that europe has a bigger history of coin collections then why are they behind? or is tpg and uncleaned coins a sore excuse to take your money -marketing that caught on

i mean if you look at a 500 year time line before grading the coins used to be just coins.

 

Just Carl, I've never heard it said any better than that.

 

Preservation of History is Important.

 

No brainer to me....acetone it asap.
And do be gentle please

 

OK thanks for all the replies. Are we talking 100% acetone or diluted? I work in a lab and the 100% stuff scares me. I tried to dilute it once and it started fuming on me! I have some isopropyl alcohol on hand, and that works nicely when I tested it. Is there any reason for using acetone or will any organic solvent do?

@rdwarrior You're right, the 1921 coins contain .5 silver, 0.45 copper and 0.05 manganese. I read somewhere that that didn't turn out so well so they changed it pretty quickly.

 

100% no water.