1964 Silver Dollars - Condition Question

I agree with not circulated.
Circulation would have removed those awful fingerprints

Nooooo don't use a rag or anything abrasive on them.
there is a product called verdicare that a lot of CCF members swear by but I personally haven't tried it

Go to Canadian Tire, buy Tarn-X or CLR, put a bit in a glass (not plastic), drop the coin in and swirl for about 15 seconds (that's seconds, not minutes), take out and gently rub with finger, and immediately rinse under cold water for a good 15-30 seconds, pat dry with soft cotton (t-shirts are good). Done.
Before;





and after;






Make sure to wash your hands and especially under your nails as this stuff is corrosive.

I've tried this on a couple of my melt bucket coins and it cleans them up great but makes them look unnatural and they actually feel soapy in hand.
I would never do this to a collectable coin

In my opinion, these coins look like they are worth their bullion value. They are very common coins, and using acetone would make them look better.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with cleaning your junk silver coins. (As long as your are not scrubbing them, and leaving hairlines. But Acetone is fine. In my opinion.)

*Do NOT Clean Coins With Numismatic Value*

I have several of these but I have to say the 1964 is the most ugly of pre 1967 Canadian dollars

Wireman, they are not "original". They have been in someone's hands, obviously, and have been altered from their original appearance. Original would mean they were in a mint-sealed container (mint set or bag) and untouched by human hands.

DBM - There was a thread a couple of years ago on Canadiancoin.com about a 1936 dot 10 cents. It was graded ICCS-65, heavily tarnished and ugly. It was dipped and was sent for regrading and came back MS-66. This was not some urban myth, but done by one of the biggest Canadian coin collectors.

I also heard that there had been a table at TOREX (not sure which year) where coins could be dipped.

If done quickly as I've stated, there is NO HARM to the coin; the tarnish is removed. This actually brings the coin nearer to it's "original" apppearance. If it's done too long, or repeatedly, then the coin will start to look a dull grey and any lustre will be taken off because the liquid will start to react with the silver which has been exposed, instead of just working on the silver oxide (tarnish or "toning", which is really just silver "rust")which had been overlying it.

Those coins shown have fingerprint marks all over them. Because of the oils from skin, that coin is already reduced to bullion value since almost no one wants an ugly coin like that. And because the oil is still on it, it may get worse, leaving little pit marks under the blackened areas. If they had a nice natural toning it would be a different story.

Tell you what. Send me one of them, and I'll do it for you. It can't get any worse and it will probably be at least 50% better (fingerprints usually won't come off completely as they have started to eat into the metal). I'm on ebay as "tigert" so check out my feedback there. I'm not going to rip you, or anyone else off. I'll even pay return postage to prove the point. (email me at crthomson@hotmail.com)

There's all this crying about, "Don't clean coins". Well, if you wet your thumb and rub a bit of dirt off a coin, then you cleaned it. If you find a coin on the street in a puddle and wash off any mud, you cleaned it. If you wipe it with a cloth, or shined it on your t-shirt, you cleaned it. If you used soap and water (which will turn copper a weird colour), you cleaned it.

Do you realize how many of the coins you look at on ebay have been cleaned? Most of them ! Any Victorian cent under MS that does not have any dirt at all in the leaves or lettering has probably been cleaned. All the old silver coins that are silver coloured, not black or "toned" have been cleaned, as silver MUST and WILL discolour when exposed to oxygen (just think of all those tarnished silver tea sets; if your coin doesn't look like that, then it almost certainly has been cleaned).

Have another look at the coin I posted.
How many of you would want the before coin and how many would prefer the after (don't say the first just because you now know it was "cleaned")?
Which would you have paid more for if you had seen the two for sale on ebay ?
If I had just posted the after photos and said, "Look at the nice coin I just got", how many of you would have said, "OH, that coin has been cleaned? My bet is 0. I think the comments would have been more along the line of, "Nice coin".

Terry, the CLR is an awesome tip. I just tried it on some melt 40's quarters, and what I thought were not great 60's quarters. Guess what? It didn't help the melt silver much, but the 60's are beautiful now. And, they don't have that blast-white "cleaned" look to them either. Unfortunately, I didn't take before pics, but I will endeavour to take some afters and post.

I'm going to try some other coins and will take before and after shots to illustrate.

Thanks for the solid tip!