To Clean Or Not To Clean....your Thoughts

So how about these two pennies (one US and one Canada)? Do they look like cleaned or not?

Thanks for your opinion Bill. However don't you think the color doesn't match the year and wearing? Normally a coin that age will be deep brown or even black.

Wandering .. Yes, they look light and maybe cleaned, but you can tell anything by a scan/photo. It could be camera glare, light source direction, scanner setting, photoshop enhancements or anything else. You can't grade anything or see what's what on a computer monitor unless you have the coin in hand as well.

My personal opinion is that a TPG would be out of the question for those coins. They are worth $1 or so and it would cost $15-$20 to get them certified each. The cert cost will be way more than they will ever be worth for at least the next 100 years. Go to a coin show and pick up a couple AU's or low MS's for less than $10 total for the pair. You'll be better off. They look cleaned to me .. cleaning doesn't necessarily make them dull.

The Lincoln has been cleaned too.

wandering,
in my opinion, they are cleaned.

It is impossible for a coin that old (I mean the wear) with to have that much shine. Plus, as I've cleaned my own coins before, I know that the toning in between the beads and the rim don't come off so quickly. That's my second supporting statement.

The toning is uneven in various spots. In some spots the toning is orange (not normal. normal toning should be red) whereas in some spots the colour is brown. The demonstrates the usage of water.


Cleaned circulated coins cannot be graded "red" as it is a term for AU and BU coins; therefore, TPG don't bother sending unjust opinions about these cleaned coins.

This was my very first lesson on the Coin Community Forum.

https://goccf.com/t/104259

After I cleaned the coins, I discovered that there was no way to clean the beads and restore permenant natural lustre. Most importantly, the wear is never in accord with the lustre.

On a more serious note on this subject though...
If you have ANY coin that was not sealed the second it was minted in an airtight capsule or compound it has been cleaned and polished many, many, many times.
Every time it was handled to buy something it was removed from one pocket and dropped in to an other.
There is no way you can ever have a coin in original condition that has not been cleaned.
I think it might also be said that the system myself and many others on here have adopted, taking mint sets apart and hermetically sealing them in 2x2's and capsule's is just as bad as cleaning .... hundreds of years from now you will have a coin without natural colour or toning.

On a less serious note .... my wife has wash LOTS of coins ... dried em to
I think the only coins ( if you can call them that ) that should be sealed and should never be handled or washed with soap and water are the trinkets or granny bate that the mint put out in huge numbers, NCLT , the only reason you don't clean them is because they aren't coins they are art.