I can hear the purest yelling: NOOOOO!!!!
But I'm asking everyone else. I need some of these for my collection and got some for silver. My question is, should I clean the ones I'm keeping and what would be the best cleaning option?
My take on cleaning is: if you cannot enjoy the coin in the state it is, and don't mind that the coin will be more difficult to sell on the market, then a non-destructive clean cannot do any harm at all.
When it comes to inattractive, relatively cheap, coins it is a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. So why not clean them up and make them attractive?
I would definitely have cleaned the coins in your picture.
I thought the middle Canadian coin isn't.
I have a solution that is very good and doesn't scratch.
You can also use silver cleaning solution that you can buy in supermarkets.
Personally I don't think cleaning would help these coins. They all look in pretty poor condition and cleaning them is not going to make them look nice. You can polish a turd and all you're going to get is a shiny turd.
Quote: neilithicPersonally I don't think cleaning would help these coins. They all look in pretty poor condition and cleaning them is not going to make them look nice. You can polish a turd and all you're going to get is a shiny turd.
HAHAHAHA! Indeed. But I intend to use a few of them as spot fillers and I would prefer to be able to tell what they are.
In that case go for it. The value of the coins is around the melt value anyway so you're not going to lose anything by cleaning them. Maybe some invest in some silvo and some soft cloths.
Either that or a lemon juice bath and soft cloths.
Quote: neilithicIn that case go for it. The value of the coins is around the melt value anyway so you're not going to lose anything by cleaning them. Maybe some invest in some silvo and some soft cloths.
Yeah. They were buried in a flooded basement within a tin box, as the story goes. I was hoping that they were just coated in a dirty film and tarnished, and could be recovered, but after a closer look (40x mag.) they are pitted. Having only paid melt for them, I'm not sad either way.
The least damaging way is to dip them as there is no scrubbing or rubbing involved. As some of them have a low silver content the results will probably be mixed, dips meant for cleaning silver do not typically react well with copper and to a lesser extent with nickel.
There are some salvageable coins there, the Hidalgo 5 Pesos, the 2 Reich mark and the Venezuelan Bolivar just seem a little discolored.
Our dear Walder is right however, it's a waste of time. If a coin has significant value it's probably unwise to be altering the surfaces, if the coin is only worth it's PM content then why bother.
I reckon it's somewhat satisfying to change an ugly duckling into something collectable. If you get it wrong you haven't really lost anything and the experience will be useful in future. You may decide that the doctoring process doesn't give you the results you wanted or maybe out of the bunch you might hit the right note and end up with a decent coin which just lacks patina. It's quite interesting testing the limits of what can and can't be done.
Just for the hell of it, try some of the more abrasive methods on the poorer coins and you'll see why cleaning is not recommended.
Go for it.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
Although I do agree that toothbrushes and vinegar do harm the coin's value, there are a few ways one can easily clean a coin without doing any damage to it at all.
If you've ever heard of "metal polishing cloth" (I highly recommend buying it, it's good for any valuable metal), you can easily buy it on amazon, however most of the time you can find it in your local store. I've found out that these cloths are very effective when you use silver polish, which when added to the cloth can take off practically any rust, dirt and anything else.
Here is the metal polish I use:
If you live in/close to Scandinavia, then I recommend you to use the same metal polish I use, which you can see here: http://www.novakari.fi/product_details.php?p=1754
This method does work, and due to me being more of the "collector" type than the "investor" type, I love all of my coins polished in a very good state.
Thanks everyone. As was mentioned, these coins aren't worth more than silver, cleaned or not.
I just wanted some examples that were good enough for place holders, until better examples are stumbled across.
I did have fun experimenting with them and here is my findings.
Almost across the board the best I found was a Acetone bath to remove the dirt and then a soft cloth and baking soda rub.
Sorry for any cardiac events that the "don't clean" crowd may be having as they read this.
OK - seeing this thread yet again I have to ask how to the untrained eye can one tell if a coin has been cleaned? I have a couple that I swear have been cleaned and others say they have not been cleaned, so please what are the tell-tale signs of a cleaned coin?
remember i for i coins
swap list under reconstruction!
