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Posted 11/29/2011 7:24 pm
I agree with the comments that if you are in this hobby to buy and sell then cleaning coins is not an option and should never be considered.
Most of my collection is comprised of circulating coins which I obtained from change. I want my collection to look presentable and have no intention of selling any of these coins to anyone else. This is a hobby for me and I find pleasure in finding coins to fill the slots, by looking in my change and searching rolls of coins. I neglected my hobby for quite a few years and then upon retirement decided to get back into it so I am doing a lot of catch up and purchasing all of the missing coins, I have found, becomes quite expensive.
I do clean pennies as some of them are really dirty and corroded. I use a combination of vinegar to soak them and then a final clean with a thin watery paste made up of water and baking soda and a toothbrush to scrub them clean. It's a lot of work so I may try some of the suggestions on this post to see if it works better. They do show signs of being around for a while, nicks and scratches, but they already have many of these before I cleaned them. At least they show better.
I am gradually purchasing better quality coins to replace these coins. These coins and any valuable coins in my colletion are never cleaned.
As a purchaser of coins, and being new to this hobby I am not yet able to know when a coin which, other than being tarnished over the years, shows well when cleaned. The pros here know when a coin has been cleaned but I haven't reached that level of knowledge yet. Therefore there is a good chance I might purchase a good looking coin that has been cleaned when I could purchase an uncirculated coin for much the same price. Because of my inexperience I have to trust the person selling the coins does not clean them for resale and a better price.
Most of my collection is comprised of circulating coins which I obtained from change. I want my collection to look presentable and have no intention of selling any of these coins to anyone else. This is a hobby for me and I find pleasure in finding coins to fill the slots, by looking in my change and searching rolls of coins. I neglected my hobby for quite a few years and then upon retirement decided to get back into it so I am doing a lot of catch up and purchasing all of the missing coins, I have found, becomes quite expensive.
I do clean pennies as some of them are really dirty and corroded. I use a combination of vinegar to soak them and then a final clean with a thin watery paste made up of water and baking soda and a toothbrush to scrub them clean. It's a lot of work so I may try some of the suggestions on this post to see if it works better. They do show signs of being around for a while, nicks and scratches, but they already have many of these before I cleaned them. At least they show better.
I am gradually purchasing better quality coins to replace these coins. These coins and any valuable coins in my colletion are never cleaned.
As a purchaser of coins, and being new to this hobby I am not yet able to know when a coin which, other than being tarnished over the years, shows well when cleaned. The pros here know when a coin has been cleaned but I haven't reached that level of knowledge yet. Therefore there is a good chance I might purchase a good looking coin that has been cleaned when I could purchase an uncirculated coin for much the same price. Because of my inexperience I have to trust the person selling the coins does not clean them for resale and a better price.
