Cleaning Crud From Dirty Coin

If you start picking at the crud, the patina can come off with the crud....trust me. Do what you want, it's your coin.

I agree with Yukozuna. I use both Acetone and Xylene and this is especially true of Xylene. Be very careful.

@LG, first welcome to CCF. Second, as a general rule, I would advise against anything more than an acetone bath, with no mechanical rubbing, picking, or scraping of anything on the coin's surface. What looks improved to you, may remove much of the value of the coins, even knowing that these are not super-valuable. For context, I have a whole bunch of foreign coins that my grandfather whizzed in the 1950s and 1960s that are now pretty much just hole-fillers. I'm not saying that what you are proposing is equivalent, but maybe just take it a little slow, ok?

May as well use a sandblaster machine. Or some jewelry cleaner from Walmart. That coin is OK as is.

T-BOP, I don't really have this coin any longer to be able to post a picture of the obverse but I do have quite a few that are in the same dirty condition. I was just using this one as a good example. I'll just use the acetone with Q-tip and leave it as is after that.

Appreciate it and all the other replies and suggestions.

I always wondered how the guys that metal
detect clean their coins when they find them in the ground or can you.

"I always wondered how the guys that metal
detect clean their coins when they find them in the ground or can you."

For silver coins, I let it soak in acetone for a couple days and then I use the sprayer on my sink to help dislodge any excess crud that may be on it, then I let it air dry on a clean paper towel. These are mostly common mercs and barbers and whatnot.

For coppers, it varies greatly on the soil condition and how it looks when it comes out. Some indian heads and wheaties I don't even bother with and toss into a bag. Other coins like large cents or better looking indians, I will pick off the outer layer of crud with a toothpick, and then roll a q-tip soaked with acetone over it. Once I am happy with the result, I will use another q-tip and apply some Verdi-Care to the coin and let it sit for a day. Pat dry when done. It isn't 100% perfect, but neither are the coins that come out of the ground, and I don't usually cause any more damage.

I find that the acetone dip by itself doesn't really seem to do much and if you use a Q-TIP with the acetone it does seem to clean the coin but also leaves shine to it so from now on, no more cleaning.