Sorry But Did You Say You Cleaned My Coin.

Can someone who is in favor with not cleaning and make a coin shiny and pretty let me in on what their ideal is behind it. I'm really curious, not saying you're wrong, it's your preference. It just seems so odd to me, because it's dirt, I don't know where that dirt came from, it could've come from the guy who owned it a few years back and rubbed it in the dirt? There's no history on them, the only thing is, is that they look "old". The date on the coin indicates it more than the dirt in between the stars or letters on a coin. That's just my opinion, I'm not wrong or right. I don't clean my coins, because people don't buy cleaned coins... ya gotta play the game if you wanna win.

Not quoting any source here, but my impression was that "cleaning" meant the removal of some patina or oxide. Many of my coins get an acetone bath to remove dirt, oils, plastic junk etc. Sometimes that gunk can hide interesting features. I save the vinegar and magic cleaning towel for my glasses.
Time heals all wounds, and you may come to have some affection for the coins that Grandma cleaned.

The answer I got when I asked why did you clean them was "Nan said they were grubby and green so you might want to give them a wipe"so my mam wiped and wiped and wiped and did'nt stop wiping.
They were in a bucket of rusty nails,screws,washers and all kinds of junk which was in my gramp's shed.
Thats all I know,apart from it must have been scratched up a fair bit being in a bucket like that.

! (god I'mold)

proof reading 101

Make them pocket pieces. You will end up with lower grade coins, but at least they will look better.

The problem is with the language being used. There is cleaning, and there is "cleaning". If you are just rising away dirt with plain water, or removing oils or PVC residue with a rinse in acetone or alcohol that is fine and no one complains about that. But dipping it in something like EZ-est or Tarnex that removes the patina and strips the surface layer of metal off the coin, or rubbing the surface with a cloth or abrasive that results in a lot of hairline scratches in the surface is bad and everyone hates that.

Coins are like other antiques, part of the value of the item is simply due to the fact that they have survived. The closer they are their original condition the more valuable they tend to be because they are even less likely to have been able to survive like that. The surfaces of a coin as it comes from the press are fairly delicate even though they are metal and they are easily damaged.

So it IS possible to gently remove dirt and grease from a coin without damaging it IF you know what you are doing. But it is VERY easy to damage the coin and reduce its value if aren't careful and don't know what you are doing. But it takes time, practice, experience, and care to be able to do it properly. This is why we will typically use the blanket warning DON'T CLEAN YOUR COINS! It takes too long to go into detail to teach them how to do it and if you don't put the stop to them right off they are likely to clean the coins in a damaging way before they can be taught the correct way.

Too often cleaning just means to make shiny by removing toning. In a sub AU coin that's just be like dyeing a old mans hair black and thinking he will look youthful. Coin wear is like wrinkles you aren't going to remove them and they just become more obvious with their aged toning missing.

Now if you got dirt or something green (PVC) on your face please remove it just don't go sanding your features off hehe

Stacker82 Don't use baking soda; it will scratch the coin. The scratches will be really tiny but we examine coins with magnifying lenses and we'll see them.

Soap and tap water have pH issues to consider. Most cleaning solutions are acidic and not nice to metal.

If you were to use a damp cotton swab, you'll just end up dragging whatever grit that is on the coin from one place to another - some, maybe all, of the grit will come off, but it would be easy to scratch the coin that way. Imagine trying to remove some dirt from between devices WITHOUT touching the top of those devices and scratching them.