I Hate Dirty Coins A Lot! Cleaning Safely?

I use only on copper circulated coins an old tooth (very soft tooth brush and mineral oil. I placed tape over 1/2 of a very dirty coin. Put some mineral oil on the brush (Or let sit in mineral oil) and brush gently in various directions to remove dirt/crud from the devices on a coin.
https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...ALF_BATH.jpg
While I left the other parts of the coin as normal I keep it out to examine how time/bathing of the coin. It hasn't changed in over a year. So next year I will check again to see if it harms the coin. So far even under a microscope I find no hair lines. But again: only on circulated copper coins do I use this. This will not remove stains/spots/freckles/unsightly blemishes. This is only to remove dirt from around the devices. If any is still remaining I use a toothpick/green thorn is better carefully to loosen the grit. The grit may contain sand so don't scrub this on the coin as it will scratch it. I remove the mineral oil with a facial tissue (Non oiled/perfumed) to remove the excess oil. Don't rub with the tissue. Press downwards toward the surface to dry. If you do a rinse with anything, made sure it is dry before putting it away. Moister in the 2 X 2/flip with cause the coin to corrode. Don't try on proof coins/bu coins. All this will do is to put scratches into them. But circulated/dirty copper coins can be bathed this way. Always best to experiment on a circulating coin first to get the technique down.
Best for small amount use. Not for bulk coins as it takes a while to bath coins. More for exposing varieties to prepare for imaging.

Depends on the coin. Depends on what is on them. But when I clean a coin with the mineral oil, I apply the oil to the brush and start working on them. Sometimes the crud might need to sit, but the coin above I put tape on 1/2 of the coin and worked on just 1/2 of it and left the other side uncleaned. Still sitting out and nothing has changed much on it. The color now is a little darker. Just a bit though. I always like to keep watching coins I bathe. It helps we see what is going on with them.

On some coins like the Silver worn quarters, when people clean them it leaves the to white. The darker parts of the coin are more enhanced on them. So I would not touch them. They just yell : CLEANED!

Silver cleaning I have used on tarnished sterling silverware and a couple of pure silver coins.

Piece of aluminum foil in bottom of teflon coated pot/pan. Cover the bottom of the pot/pan. Just let it sit there loose. No need to wrap the pot or pan with it.

2-3" of Distilled water.
1 tsp Baking Soda.
1 tsp Salt

Bring water to boil.

Drop coin in pot. Tarnish instantly disappears.

Badly tarnished may take a minute or two at most.

Rinse under distilled water wipe gently with pure cotton cloth.

Beautiful. No apparent damage but I am a newbie so...

Excellent analogy j_h_s, I have "clean me" on the hood of my car. Many minerals found in common dirt are harder than silver. Rubbing of any sort can leave a "clean Me" on your coin. This is why I only soak coins in ammonia, rinse with water, and place on a cloth to air dry. This is the method I have used, and I only use it on coins that have been in circulation. Only clean coins that will benefit from the process, high grade coins should be left alone.

NO RUBBING.

MarkJ,

I have tried your technique, and I had some bad results. I found that it had a toning effect and left a residue on the coin. I would stick to ammonia, it's the safest method I have found so far.

SuperDave,

I'm not sure what went wrong with my attempt. When I took the coins out, they were a dingy yellow color and had a dusty appearance that I can't remove. Maybe there was some residue in the pot to start with. There wasn't a lot of toning on the coin to begin with. I will re-attempt, and be more carefull with the procedure.

Clean the dirt off first! Then use a soft pencil eraser.
Rub it hard enough, it will remove stains, tarnish, etc.
That will make the Copper shine like new.
OOPS! Now it looks like a cleaned coin...
So, place the coin in a humidor to start the oxidation process, until satisfied.

I must have too much time on my hands to be cleaning pennies!!
At least it keeps me out of trouble.

MorganNoob,

The baking soda solution listed above will remove the spots. I have played with it a little bit and it seems to work well. The problem I have encountered with it is that it leaves a dusty residue on the coins. No one else has mentioned this problem so maybe I am doing something wrong. I think it might be too much baking soda or salt. Try it out on some junk coins.

Gfxhead,

Rubbing the coins with an eraser is a bad idea. Microscopic amounts of dirt can be left on the coin which will result in microscopic scratches. It may look good to the naked eye, but under closer evaluation the results are disasterous.