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

@ Pocket Change 50


- Replace coin inserts with PVC free products.Always use PVC free products.

- Soak newer coinage in warm distilled water In a plastic cup,one at a time until you can identify a variety,if no variety is found,waste no more time,effort or costs.

- Multi plated coins must be completely dried.Water can get in and under the plated surfaces.Pat dry and as a precaution place the coin on a warm scratch-free surface.




Avoid all "chemical cleaning solvents" which are corrosive, volatile and flammable as you would a voracious brain-cell eating demon.


- One last point,keep collectable coins out of direct sunlight or for prolonged periods of time unless you prefer a faded toned coin.(as any dealer will tell you; "they're best kept in the dark" ...)

So the TPGs will automatically give a coin a lower grade than it's shape shows, if the toning is not match the year/wearing?

1188, I was actually serious with my question. I'm relatively new still and I have many coins like the one I showed the picture of and am unfamiliar with what to do. I don't know the different types of dirt/film so I can't say what's the best solution if anything at all. They are mostly expanding the 1800's and to me are in rough shape. I know in general you don't clean coins but some of these are really hard to see.

Obviously this is a very subjective topic however, I was hpping for some concensus from the members. I would really appreciate feedback to my specific coins if anyone would be so willing to share.

I hope someone worked for TGPs or dealed with them can answer my question:

Will TPGs automatically give a coin a lower grade than it's shape shows, if the toning is not match the year/wearing?

Howest, Thank you. Actually my question is like this: if two copper coin has same wearing, but one is cleaned so it's red.Will TPGs give it a lower grade than the brown one, just because the red color doesn't match the wearing?

oh boy.......

I'm thinking that maybe it's time for an intervention... :)

Good grief .. this thread is doing very little to help the newbies who have some honest questions. Here are a few answers.

1. Don't clean or dip ANY coin unless you absolutely have to.

2. If you send in a cleaned coin to the major TPG's now, they may not grade it. It can either get body-bagged or returned to you with no grade, but rather only with the comment "genuine" on it.

3. Most TPG's will lower the grade of a coin by one class if it has been significantly altered or has environmental damage, but each TPG has their own grading parameters. Some grade on technical wear only, some on eye appeal, some on luster and surface. Coins are now electronically scanned by the major TPGs for any surface residue from applied compounds, including any oils, waxes, gels, or oxidants.

4. A cleaned copper coin will never return to "red" .. what it will return to is "washed out", dull, or bleached. A "red" copper or bronze coin is actually more yellow than anything and, once oxygen (with other air pollutants)has hit it, the red will start turning to brown.... it can't be helped or stopped (unless lacquer or some other semi-permanent sealant is applied). The only reason that there are "red" MS 63-66 100 year old copper coins around is that they spent a good portion of their life sealed in lacquer by old collectors. Even the air that is trapped in a hard slab or flip is enough to start natural oxidation of the coin, changing the color.

5. 99.5% of any modern coin that you find on the ground or in pocket change doesn't need cleaning because they are essentially worthless .. if it has some minor value, then you will only reduce it by cleaning it.

6. The coins that have been shown in this thread don't need cleaning and aren't worth the time or effort to try to improve their appearance. For most 100+ year old coins that have normal circulation wear and/or environmental damage ... if you can read the date and see the appropriate areas for a possible scarce variety, leave the coin alone.

7. Don't send coins in for TPG without first setting some kind of threshold limit to make it economically sound. Unless you deal with large bulk lots of 50 to 100 at a time, a normal TPG is going to cost you about $20. If you send in coins that are worth less than, say, $100, then you have eaten up 20% right off the top. And by a $100 coin, I mean one that actually "trades" at $100, not one that's listed in the guides at $100, but that you can buy for $50 on the bourse or ebay. Your $20 TPG cert cost for that $50 coin has now eaten up 40% and it probably has cost you more than it will ever be worth.

8. If you collect high-end coins where the difference of 1 grading point means 100's or 1000's price difference, then TPG's are a MUST if you ever want to resell. If you collect and there is no one to pass your collection down to family for continuation, then you probably need some TPG to make sure that it's not sold too cheaply by your heirs. If you never learned how to grade, then sending coins in to a TPG is a very poor investment and a costly substitute for taking a grading course or having a "grading set" of coins to refer to.

9. If you intend to start to seriously collect, the first 3 purchases should be books. Knowledge is everything in numismatics. The next thing to do is to learn how to grade and to do it well. If you are lucky enough to live close-by medium to large coin shows, you can learn to grade just by walking the bourse or auction preview and seeing how the various TPG's differ in HOW they grade, WHAT they grade, and what differentiates one grade from another .. it won't take long. Only then should you actually start buying coins.

10. Distilled water (heated if necessary) baths or soaks is the only thing that is essentially benign to a coin surface. Anything else is going to modify the surface chemistry to some extent and anything that moves around any surface dirt will potentially scratch the surface (including Q-Tips). Clean only as a last result and then only enough to read a date or see if you have a scarce variety if you ever intend to sell it. Coins for your own collection, you can do with as you wish .. there are some collectors who actually polish all their copper/brass coins .. so what, but they will never sell.