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 Replies: 15 / Views: 873 |
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New Member
United States
20 Posts |
Hello to all, I'm a brand new member. My question is, after cleaning a roll of bank gotten $1 coins with the vinegar and salt to return the luster, what is the best way to keep them looking shiny and new? After just 3 days, they are turning dark. I saw this cleaner and sealer combo on Amazon, QONS Coin Cleaner and Protector Kit Solution, but thought I'd ask here before spending $$$ on it. Will using the cardboard flips keep them shiny? I know they are only worth face value, but I'd like to collect the complete set of P and D's for a keepsake to look at. Thanks in advance for your advise and input. |
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Moderator
 United States
164267 Posts |
 to the Community!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3353 Posts |
Which small dollar series are you collecting? Susan B. Anthony? Sacagawea? Presidential? Innovation?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
18697 Posts |
Quote:
with the vinegar and salt 
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
20337 Posts |
Who told you to clean them with vinegar and salt.
If you want to clean coins, use only 100% acetone.
I usually soak mine for 24 hours then rinse with distilled water.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1587 Posts |
@thbjr - -  Also, I would never recommend the use of "cleaner and sealer combo" on any coin. I use 2x2 cardboard flips on many of my coins, excepting proof, specimen and commemorative items. Ps. I have used Verdi-Care on some corroded copper coins with positive results. (it also works as a preservative) Edited by Sharks
05/13/2025 3:07 pm
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Moderator
United States
72082 Posts |
to CCF. Save your vinegar and salt for cooking, not cleaning coins. All that will do is damage them in the long run.
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Moderator
Australia
16340 Posts |
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..after cleaning a roll of bank gotten $1 coins with the vinegar and salt to return the luster... And it is this line here that everyone on this forum is going to have trouble with. You cannot "return the lustre" to a coin using acid (and vinegar is just that, an acid). Acids attack the surface of a coin and destroy lustre. Yes, acids can strip away the oxidation from a metal surface, making it "look shiny", but "shiny" does not equal "lustre". Genuine lustre on a coin is caused by microscopic ridges and lines in the metal's surface, created when the coin is struck. Circulation wear destroys these ridges. Acid destroys these ridges too. The only way to genuinely "bring back the lustre" is to melt the coin down and strike a new coin with the metal. To put it another way, the Second Law of Thermodynamics is unavoidable: you cannot un-scrable eggs, and you cannot take an old, worn coin and "make it look like new again". Coin collectors really, really hate it when people try to do this, especially if they do this and then try to sell the coin without telling anyone the coin has been cleaned. The best and only way to "keep them looking shiny and new" is to obtain some coins that never didn't look "shiny and new", and try to preserve them that way using a 2x2, airtite or some similarly air-resistant coin holder. Preserving "golden dollars" is difficult, as the alloy is not chemically inert like genuine gold is; it will readily oxidize in just a few years if left in the open air. Your cleaned coins are oxidizing much quicker than this because the vinegar was not completely rinsed off the coin, and the residual acid left on the coin's surface is continuing to attack the metal.
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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New Member
 United States
20 Posts |
"Which small dollar series are you collecting? Susan B. Anthony? Sacagawea? Presidential? Innovation?"
Mostly all of the above.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1257 Posts |
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New Member
United States
20 Posts |
@SAP, "Your cleaned coins are oxidizing much quicker than this because the vinegar was not completely rinsed off the coin, and the residual acid left on the coin's surface is continuing to attack the metal."
That may still be true. That said, after the salt/vinegar washing with a soft toothbrush, they were rinsed in RO water, then washed again with Dawn and another soft toothbrush, rinsed again and finally submerged into a cup full of RO water for 5 minutes or so. If that didn't remove all the salt/vinegar, then I don't know what to say.
The wife is out picking out some acetone and I'm ordering the flips, so THANKS for the advice on searching out the ones that are still in shinny condition and I'll try to keep them that way.
on another note, I read the "posting tutorial", LOL! May I ask how to add the Quote: box to respond to post?
Thanks again for the advice!!!! :)
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
59638 Posts |
To CCF! As stated above, never ever clean coins with salt and vinegar. Only use pure acetone and Verdi-Care. Your coins are now only worth face value.
Errers and Varietys.
Edited by Errers and Varietys
05/13/2025 11:10 pm
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Moderator
Australia
16340 Posts |
Quote:
...after the salt/vinegar washing with a soft toothbrush, they were rinsed in RO water, then washed again with Dawn and another soft toothbrush, rinsed again and finally submerged into a cup full of RO water for 5 minutes or so. If that didn't remove all the salt/vinegar, then I don't know what to say. Ah, there's also Dawn - which Google tells me is a kind of dishwashing detergent - in the mix as well. Google tells me Dawn contains sodium lauryl sulfate, and as with all sulfur-containing compounds, can quickly tarnish metal, especially an unstable alloy like manganese-bronze. Dawn is also designed to not be rinsed off too easily, so I'm not sure a 5-minute soak would do it. So in short, you've thrown all sorts of corrosive chemicals at your coins (not to mention the physical scrubbing with a toothbrush! Yikes!), so I can't tell which specific chemical, or the combination of all of them, is causing your coins to quickly go dark. Feel free to conduct some scientific experiments yourself, on coins you don't care about. But in any event, please don't do any of those things - vinegar, detergent, or scrubbing - to any coin you intend to keep, as using any one of them will cause a coin to be "ruined" as far as any coin collector is concerned. And for your question about quoting a post, you have to do it manually: type [qu ote] (include the square-brackets), then copy-paste the text you want to quote, then type [/qu ote] (with the square brackets and slash). And always make sure you've spelled "quote" properly, because "qoute" won't work. I keep doing that. 
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
5766 Posts |
Next time you have salt and vinegar try this instead   |
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Moderator
United States
164267 Posts |
Quote:
May I ask how to add the Quote: box to respond to post? How to QuoteIf you are using the Quick Reply box... 1. Type [qu
2. Paste the text you want to quote
3. Then type [/qu If you are using the Post a Reply button... 1. Paste the text you want to quote 2. Highlight it 3. Then press the 'Insert Quote' button:  So this... [qu ote]Quoted Text[/qu ote] Looks like this... Quote:
Quoted Text
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New Member
United States
20 Posts |
THank you @Sap and @jbuck for your help and info. I have both small dollar flips and Verdi-Care ordered and on there way. As for the info on Dawn, THANKS, I'm told by my optometrist that Dawn is a good, "soft" soap to clean my glasses with and to use a "soft toothbrush to get into the corners of the plastic frames. So I'd never have guessed that Dawn and a soft toothbrush would be good for polycarbonate lenses, but damaging to coins. Quote:
Google tells me Dawn contains sodium lauryl sulfate, and as with all sulfur-containing compounds, can quickly tarnish metal, especially an unstable alloy like manganese-bronze. I guess the only thing I can say is that I only wanted shinny coins for a Whittman collection book and never even thought of them being worth anything more than face value. I had cleaned 3 rolls before I got onto this forum and today I had to go to Home Depot to pick up some fert for the garden. I paid the $33 in shinny "gold dollars and the cashier was grinning real big. I guess she wanted to have them, so face value is good for now. Out of those 75 coins, I got 26 in my Whittman book, so I'm happy!  |
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Replies: 15 / Views: 873 |
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Posted 05/13/2025 12:27 pm
