How To Tell If Gold Coins Have Been Cleaned? Large Pictures

Like you tell any other coin has been cleaned.

Too bright, unnatural lustre, hairlines etc. It's not something that can be described in words, it's something you have to see and remember. Once you know what a naturally lustrous coin looks like a cleaned one will stand out like a sore thumb.

I was just fielding the basics. I don't know much beyond that myself, nor do I particularly care. I collect medieval and Roman coins and with those cleaning is pretty much standard or expected. I don't give two hoots about value, overpaying or grade either. I collect for history, I collect what I find eye appealing. If I like it i'll buy it... I never look at the catalogues these days, they're usually wrong anyhow.

Nearly all my coins have been cleaned at one time or another... might have been as long ago as 1156.

I have been selling off extra 1800's the last few weeks, mostly U.S., and I find that probably 50% or more have been cleaned at one time or another. Basically, if we were to pull all the clean coins out of the market the remaining coins would be so expensive most folks wouldn't be able to collect any longer. I don't like the word "cleaned" and for the most part WON'T buy a coin marked as such as we have been taught that lessons the value but WE all have cleaned coins and as long as we don't put the old fine eye on each and every coin we collect there will always be the possibility they are in our collection. Now a coin that has been buffed or polished, now thats a different story! They stand out like a new hub cap on a rusty old car. I won't have them around!

ageka

I think most people understand that dipped coins are cleaned coins !!and I dont really think it matters which product is used!!

whizzed coins are harshly cleaned and ugly coins!!

silver polished and buff coins are destroyed coins !!

now I know there are reasons to use acetone to remove harmful crud from coins and its a choice between evils, and one case where the results justify the means.

But you and I both also know that many times coins are doctored in order to fool the unaware and enhance the value of a coin.

Right?

but I think like crystalk said , a large percentage of the coins on the market have been cleaned at sometime in the past.

Rick

Rick

Ageka, do either of those looked cleaned to you? are they bad picture?

quote:

---

Originally posted by ageka

Metalman

So I know that all french coins I got are either true uncirculated or water dipped if you can call that dipping

---

This is the same with British coins too. Most of the ones I buy will have been cleaned at some point. Most have now retoned nice shades of grey and thus have eye appeal to me, but they probably were rinsed or wiped back in 1760.

I agree that harshly polished and heavily hairlined (or moderately hairlined coins) are not attractive.

Although having said that I saw a very nice blue toned 1847 Victorian gothic crown that had been cleaned. Of course recently it had started retoning, and the tone was the one that is very highly regarded by British collectors, blue/grey/steel toning. It had some hairlines though but if I could have had it, I would have bought it!

I think this has been a worthwhile topic and do appreciate everyones input. If a man/woman is really terrified of owning a "cleaned" coin I would suggest collecting something else as we all have owned them, sold them and still have them in our collections. In my opinion there are excellent cleaned coins and as metalman said, harshly cleaned or buffed coins that have been destroyed. When one turns to the old world coins that are hundreds of years old, getting a nice example, at a fair price, is for more important than worrying about who may have carefully dipped or removed some crud a hundred years ago. Guess we all should be thankful the individual was a collector and made the effort to keep those old classics as natural as possible without destroying it, shouldn't we? Thank you all for your opinions on this post and to all of you who won't collect cleaned coins there is always the modern mint and proof sets direct from the world mints! OH wait, the metal goes through a cleaning and dipping process at the mints (Philadelphia does a lousey job) so I guess there would be nothing left for you to collect as they have been cleaned and dipped as well?