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 Replies: 20 / Views: 3,675 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1839 Posts |
I believe that as numismatists we have a responsibility to look after and preserve coins for generations to come. I feel that we are merely caretakers rather than owners of these little pieces of history. With that in mind I don't really subscribe to the school of thought that "hey if you own them you can do whatever you want with them". That said, I do think there are times that it's appropriate to clean a coin. However knowing when it's appropriate is very often misunderstood by the neophyte collector and this, I believe, is why there is such an abundance of incorrectly and poorly cleaned coins in existence today.
Edited by Tbone
06/09/2015 6:31 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19949 Posts |
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
5394 Posts |
Sure it it is ok to clean coins if done properly. It is called conservation and should be done professionally. Over 97 per cent of coin collectors or dealers have NO clue how it should be handled in a proper fashion. Best bet if in doubt ........do not clean your coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
11922 Posts |
Like others have said, I think it is fine to clean coins- that is, depending on the circumstances.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
depends on the coin and depends on the cleaning. some coins can, and should be "saved" by a proper helping hand. it will never replace an untouched version of the same grade/quality. TOP ROW: 2 untouched coins. 1 is acceptable and 1 is not LOWER ROW: 2 "cleaned" coins. again 1 is acceptable and 1 is not  |
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Moderator
Australia
16827 Posts |
The message that should be going out there should be a loud, clear and unambiguous "never clean coins". This is not, technically speaking, true, but it is true in by far the majority of circumstances that a new collector or non-collector is likely to encounter, and such people cleaning coins is by far the most common circumstance whereby an otherwise nice, valuable coin is ruined.
There are a limited set of circumstances whereby cleaning a coin is considered acceptable, or even "normal":
- Coins dug up out of the ground. They've got dirt - literal, physical dirt - stuck to them, which can be washed off. If they're not gold and have been in the ground for a while, it's likely that they're also corroded (see below). Ancient bronze coins are often kind of like fossils, in that the original surface of the coin has completely corroded away and all of the fine details originally on the coin are now only preserved in the corrosion layer (patina) which has kept the shape of the original coin; cleaning such coins requires as much care and patience as a palaeontologist with a fossil.
- Coins that are actively corroding. We're talking here about things like bronze disease, PVC goo and such. The coin is already damaged by the corrosion, but the only way to stop the coin getting worse and worse is to clean the corrosive agents off. Included in this category I would put uncirculated coins you know you've just accidentally touched, but which haven't developed visible fingerprints yet.
- Coins with paint, varnish, lacquer, glue, stickytape residue or similar "foreign matter" stuck to it. It's perfectly OK to use whatever solvent works best to remove the stuff - knowing that removing the stuff might not necessarily improve the look of the coin, if the stuff has been stuck there a while. Note that things like PVC goo qualify as both "active corrosion" and "foreign matter".
- War medals. It has long been recognised that there's no point in trying to stop an old soldier from polishing up their medals, so cleaning and polishing them have little or no effect on their value.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Moderator
Australia
16827 Posts |
And, since we're showing off our own personal "good cleaning" efforts, here's one I prepared earlier. In my list of exemptions, this one is clearly in category 1 (a ground find). Before: After: Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
632 Posts |
Wow. I took only a cursory glance at the "before" picture but I immediately registered it as a degraded copper coin.
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Valued Member
United States
212 Posts |
I'd only clean it if it were absolutly necessary, like if you found it metal detecting and can barely even tell what it is because of all the gunk.
But otherwise, you shouldn't. Especially on proof coins, like really, don't do it on proof coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19949 Posts |
Quote:
And, since we're showing off our own personal "good cleaning" efforts, here's one I prepared earlier. That's an amazing transformation! NICE JOB!  Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
All ancient coins, recovered from earth burial, need to be cleaned.
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Valued Member
Australia
208 Posts |
I would not clean a RARE coin, but I have cleaned dark, blotchy, and stained silver coins that I have gotten cheap, to make them look average instead of ugly. Baking soda, hot water, aluminum foil.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
If a coin has something on it which if left on it will damage the coin it should be carefully and properly cleaned off. A coin with ACTIVE corrosion needs to be cleaned to stop further damage from occurring.
The reason we trumpet so frequently and loudly DO NOT CLEAN YOUR COINS! is because if you don't know what you are doing it is very easy to do more damage to the coin. People new to the hobby (or just passing through) rarely know proper conservation techniques so they need to be stopped before they do damage to their coins. Once they have absorbed the mantra "Do not clean" then they can be carefully taught proper conservation.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
For me and at my age I just don't want to spend what time is left cleaning a coin. I'll just look for and buy what I like whether cleaned or not. For me it's all just a hobby.
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Moderator
United States
188342 Posts |
Quote:
If a coin has something on it which if left on it will damage the coin it should be carefully and properly cleaned off. A coin with ACTIVE corrosion needs to be cleaned to stop further damage from occurring.
The reason we trumpet so frequently and loudly DO NOT CLEAN YOUR COINS! is because if you don't know what you are doing it is very easy to do more damage to the coin. People new to the hobby (or just passing through) rarely know proper conservation techniques so they need to be stopped before they do damage to their coins. Once they have absorbed the mantra "Do not clean" then they can be carefully taught proper conservation. Worth repeating. |
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Replies: 20 / Views: 3,675 |
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Posted 06/09/2015 7:41 pm
