Acceptable Coin Cleaning?

I have been meaning to try Spray and Wash on some grimey non-valuable coins just to remove the oil from human hands on pocket change, then rinse throughly and air dry. first will check the spray and wash with some litmus paper I have to determine the PH. Anyone try this before?

Everyone has an opinon on the delimma of "to clean or not to clean" IMHO it is OK to "clean" a coin in terms of conserving it and protecting it from further damage, etc. I am primarily referring to coins removed from circulation which undoubtedly have much on their surfaces, I have some AU and very nice coins that over the years have developed an unsightly fingerprint directly in the center of the coin. To my mind, removing surface dirt and oils that accumulate from circulation in order to keep the coin from degrading is acceptable; as long as none of the material the coin is made out of is altered or removed.

Have heard many people recommend Acetone. I bought a can last evening to try. when I got home I ran a "unscientific" PH test using some strips from the health food store that I bought. compared against the laundry stain remover "Shout", the Shout was more akaline by about .5 than the Acetone. If acid is bad and Acetone is OK, then Shout should be better (?). I used Shout and Spray and Wash to clean my hands of grease after working on the car and it does a wonderful job in the absence of prof. hand cleaner like Go-JO.

Next I will try two similar coins with Acetone and Shout and make comparisons on results and set aside to watch over the months and years.

I just want coins from circulation that remain as pristine as possible without degradation over time, what is wrong with that if no metal is altered or removed and toning is left intact?

I agree with Just Carl, anything valuable should never be cleaned. I clean pocket change (but not copper) to make it more appealing to me, I don't like to open a folder of coins with some that have unsightly fingerprints, dirt, grime, grease, etc on them. I think the coin would degredate over time if these were allowed to remain, and since there is not great value at the present; don't think anything will be lost in the process. If pocket change can survive in circulation I don't think a mild cleaning will hurt.

I tried Acetone and Spray and wash and don't like either.

Bryan, how long did you leave the coins in the acetone? Any recommended max time?

In all this thread there is plenty of discussion of soaps, mild acids and acetone. But has anyone had much experience with ammonia? I've tried it on some heavily tarnished, common date, AU+ Peace dollars, and have found that it lightens the tarnish without having any noticeable effect on luster. It doesn't take a coin back to blast white - more like going from dark chocolate to light coffee.

In my opinion, u should never clean a coin at all. But thats just me.

bryan115: It all depends on the coins you used. Many coins in great conditions will not suffer from Acetone dips. If however, the coin has been attacked chemically and part of the metal of the coin has now been removed by such a dipping, then the coin would not have come back as you described. Regardless of anything, any chemical, if you don't want to take chances on distruction of a coin, leave it alone. Of course on the other hand the more people distroy coins by cleaning, the more valuable mine become.
Just one more story. I took a 72D Lincoln Cent, 88D Jefferson nickel, 05 Liverty dime, 77 Roosevelt dime and 80 Washington quarter. All were well worn and kind of dirty.
On april 10, 2007 @5PM I emersed all in a glass beaker with Acetone just purchased from Walmart's paint department in a metal can. I covered the beaker, put on a window sill inside my garage.
April 11 @ 5PM I moved the beaker outside and left in direct sunlight.
April 12 @ 3PM I removed all coins & allowed to dry on a redwood picnic table on my patio. No rinsing with anything.
April 12 @ 3:30PM I broguht al coins into the house.
Results were that the cent showed no change and still had a greenish stuff from when I first put it in. The Nickel and Quarter appeared cleaner but not by much and really not to noticable. The Roosevelt dime has acquired a darkened shadowy area on the reverse but nothing on the obverse at all. Same with the 05 Dime.
I further rinsed those dimes with Vinegar and also no change. Still the darkened area on the reverses.
The summation of this experiment is that Acetone as a rule does little to a coin regardless of the coins composition. However, only my results, yours may vary.

My results with Acetone are the same as Carl's. I can't tell any difference. There is much said about cleaning changing a coin, removing metal, destroying value, etc; doesn't circulation do the same thing? More metal is removed by circulation than anything I know. I don't think coins are as fragile as many think, yet I agree that cleaning that leaves ANY marks is anathema.

I don't like dirt, grime, or grease on my coins; therefore I clean as needed. Mostly with just plain warm water and occassional mild soap.