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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,351 |
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Valued Member
United States
148 Posts |
Hello: I'm sure this is a popular subject to discuss, but what's the best way to clean a coin. Silver, clad, etc.. I know not to put silver polish on it as it's an abrasive, I'm just looking for proper advice to clean some of the gunk from grooves, etc. soft tooth brush and warm water? Any guidance is appreciated.javascript:insertsmilie('  ') |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
585 Posts |
The answer is pretty simple: DON'T !  |
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Valued Member
 United States
148 Posts |
Wouldn't it improve the grade so features could be better seen?
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
With almost all freshly dug up ancient coins: DO!
The majority of ancients are unidentifiable, or almost so, when initially recovered.
The art of professionally cleaning ancient coins is almost an applied science in itself. Many years of experience are required, and a large range of cleaning techniques are used by museums.
I won't elaborate on the various methods used here, but some of them could be injurious to machine made coins, and would be highly inappropriate.
Edited by sel_69l
06/21/2012 07:06 am
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
Wouldn't it improve the grade so features could be better seen? No. It will destroy the collector value, because coin collectors expect coins to be in their original, unaltered state. Whatever that state might be. There are exceptions to that rule for specific contaminants and under specific situations. Refer to sel_69l's comments regarding ancients for one such exception. For any others, until you're more comfortable with how it all works, please ask about individual coins here. But just "getting the junk from between the lines" is never going to get a favorable result here. |
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Moderator
Australia
16834 Posts |
"Grade" is a measurement of the amount of wear a coin has and no matter how much you clean it, you can't "unwear" a coin. So cleaning never actually improves the grade. The best it can do is allow the coin's true grade to be more clearly seen.
Second, there is no one-size-fits al way to "clean a coin". A cleaning treatment that would be perfectly acceptable for one coin might be ruinous if used on another. It really has to be decided on a case-by-case basis, and in the vast majority of cases, the answer given is, "Don't clean it".
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
561 Posts |
NEVER CLEAN A COIN! There are several preservation techniques that can be used and your best bet is to search the forum for old threads. There is a wealth of knowledge on this board if we search it out.  to the forum! |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
One of the most important things to know about cleaning coins is what your doing to the coins. In many instances what you may think of as dirt, contaminatioins, corrosions, etc. is a chemical reaction of the metal of the coin with another substance. Therefore, when you remove that STUFF, you remove part of the coin's metal or part of the coin. Also, you now expose the bare coin to more STUFF in the air which again, could do further damage. Unless you really know what your doing, it is always best to leave coins as they are. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1812 Posts |
I found the best way to clean a coin with gunk on it is to place it in a toy rock tumbler with some hot water and a few drops of liquid soap and let tumble for a few hours...
I do this when the alternative is to toss the coin, mostly post 1982 Lincoln Cents that seem to be a magnet for gunk...
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,351 |
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Posted 06/21/2012 06:27 am
