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<p>[QUOTE="gsimonel, post: 3258993, member: 82549"]I am an elementary science teacher. It is my professional opinion, (it's okay to laugh; I get that all the time), that your next purchase should be a stereo microscope. Nothing fancy; a simple 10x-30x power scope is all you need. Something like this:</p><p><a href="https://www.amscope.com/sharp-forward-stereo-microscope-10x-30x.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.amscope.com/sharp-forward-stereo-microscope-10x-30x.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.amscope.com/sharp-forward-stereo-microscope-10x-30x.html</a> </p><p>(Avoid the temptation to go for higher magnification power. They are harder to use and defeat the whole purpose of getting one for a kid.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Then go to a hobby or hardware store and get a brass rod and a sharpening stone to sharpen one of the rod ends into a point. Once you've got a coin pretty clean, put it under the scope and use the brass rod to pick any remaining dirt out of the nooks and crannies of the coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>And now here's where I admit the fundamental disingenuity of my suggestion:</p><p>Yes, you son will probably enjoy cleaning coins this way. But my hope is he will also enjoy sticking his fingers under the scope and looking at them, too. And then enjoy going outside and finding bugs, rocks, plants and whatnot to look at under it, and he'll get excited about how cool everything looks under a microscope and his curiosity about the natural world will just take off.</p><p><br /></p><p>And your coins will end up cleaner, too.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="gsimonel, post: 3258993, member: 82549"]I am an elementary science teacher. It is my professional opinion, (it's okay to laugh; I get that all the time), that your next purchase should be a stereo microscope. Nothing fancy; a simple 10x-30x power scope is all you need. Something like this: [url]https://www.amscope.com/sharp-forward-stereo-microscope-10x-30x.html[/url] (Avoid the temptation to go for higher magnification power. They are harder to use and defeat the whole purpose of getting one for a kid.) Then go to a hobby or hardware store and get a brass rod and a sharpening stone to sharpen one of the rod ends into a point. Once you've got a coin pretty clean, put it under the scope and use the brass rod to pick any remaining dirt out of the nooks and crannies of the coins. And now here's where I admit the fundamental disingenuity of my suggestion: Yes, you son will probably enjoy cleaning coins this way. But my hope is he will also enjoy sticking his fingers under the scope and looking at them, too. And then enjoy going outside and finding bugs, rocks, plants and whatnot to look at under it, and he'll get excited about how cool everything looks under a microscope and his curiosity about the natural world will just take off. And your coins will end up cleaner, too.[/QUOTE]
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