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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 1105544, member: 68&quot;]Exactly!&nbsp; Especially the last paragraph.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>As a rule it&#039;s best to never need to clean a coin but with experience you know not only what the exceptions are but how to do it.&nbsp; Some collectors might never need to know how to clean a coin and no one should ever gain their experience by ruining valuable coins.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve lost some coins that just break my heart.&nbsp; Just this year a Polish 1949 aluminum mint set was lost due to poor storage media.&nbsp; It was my fault ultimately as I&#039;m not nearly careful enough with very inexpensive coins.&nbsp; This set was a stunning PL unc and listed for only a couple dollars.&nbsp; Unfortunately it sat on foam rubber and this destroys aluminum.&nbsp; I discovered the damage just a few weeks before Krause bumped the value to about $100 for a typical unc.&nbsp; Now they&#039;re gem on one side only.&nbsp; They&#039;re trash but after destroying them I can&#039;t even bring myself to pitch them in the trash.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>But a lot of coins can be saved if the mint packaging goes bad.&nbsp; They can be improved if they are dirty or hazy.&nbsp; If they were improperly cleaned by someone else they can sometimes be brought back to look natural.&nbsp; Just soaking copper in acetone and then exposing to heat and fumes (like the top of a furnace) can restore improperly cleaned coins to beautiful in as little as days.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>If you collect only very expensive coins there&#039;s no real need to learn how to clean and restore but a collector who has been around a little and has cheap coins might be well advised to at least dabble a little in cleaning.&nbsp; If you&#039;re in doubt don&#039;t clean.&nbsp; And don&#039;t forget that a proper cleaning just shows what the coin looks like under the mess.&nbsp; Sometimes the coin under the mess looks way worse than the mess. You have to learn to see what&#039;s under the goop as part of learning how to clean.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Learn on cheap or spendable coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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