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 Replies: 16 / Views: 15,134 |
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New Member
Macedonia
25 Posts |
Ok few days ago I was cleaning my house and I found approx 15 kilograms coins mostly nickels I think there's some silver. So now while I think what to do with them I wonder how to clean them mostly dust that got to them over the years, I searched here and there for information but mostly I got answers for ancient coins(i have ancient but they are not for sale and I wont clean them) . So what is the best way to clean them.
English is not my main language- sorry if I offend someone with my English.
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New Member
 Macedonia
25 Posts |
Edited by Grunge
05/08/2013 11:00 am
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
 to the Community! I embedded the photos to make it easier for our members to see what you have.  |
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New Member
Macedonia
25 Posts |
I tried several times to embed than I gave up. Thanks :)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4212 Posts |
"numista philatelista banknotista badges collector" I resemble that remark. That looks like boxes of adventure, have fun!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
624 Posts |
Wow... I wouldn't clean anything until you figure-out what you have. Looks like a lot of Eastern European coinage and bills...
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New Member
Macedonia
25 Posts |
I wish to clean the dirt they got over the years and put them in something appropriate. I soaked several today in a soda bath, but I got some strange collor maybe they are not all nickels as I thought.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Woah! hold up there.
Best way to clean coins is a way which wont touch the coin at all - just the dirt. Basically, distilled water or Acetone. Thats basically the only option I'm afraid.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1888 Posts |
Clean the pistol. Leave the coins as they are.
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New Member
Macedonia
25 Posts |
I will clean few, that I think I have atleast 10 of them :P I will see tomorrow and share some pictures for opinion did soda did well or I destroyed the coin.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Here's my recommendation - why bother cleaning coins when you waste time and money using cleaning products to clean AND lose values of the coins? Unless they are cluttered with gunk, I see there's no need to. They look good from what I see.
My partial coin collection http://www.omnicoin.com/collection/gxseriesMy numismatics articles and collection: http://www.gxseries.com/numis/numis_index.htmRegularly updated at least once a month. |
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Moderator
Australia
16808 Posts |
Hello and welcome. Coin collectors generally do not want their coins to be cleaned. While you may see it as "dust", or "dirt", we see it as a coin simply showing its age. Now, if your coins have been sitting around in bags like that for many years, some of the coins may actually be corroded. I can see one coin in your fourth picture (inside the top box) that looks green, and green is never a good colour on a modern coin. There's not much you can do with corroded coins; unless they're really rare, nobody wants them. Quote:
maybe they are not all nickels as I thought. Most of the coins that I can clearly see are old Yugoslavian coins. Yugoslavia, like most other communist countries back then, used fairly cheap alloys to make their coins from. Some are cupronickel, some are brass, some are aluminium. The brass alloys are particularly vulnerable to corrosion. Quote:
I soaked several today in a soda bath, but I got some strange collor
did soda did well or I destroyed the coin.I'm not quite sure what you mean by a "soda bath". But if the bath is changing colour after putting the coins in, then yes, you are removing something from the coin. Whether that's good or bad depends on what the coin looked like before it was put in. Show us some pictures of coins you haven't cleaned yet but might want to clean, and we should be able to tell you whether it's dirt, corrosion or just toning. Quote:
English is not my main language- sorry if I offend someone with my English. No apology is needed. Your English is much better than my Macedonian.  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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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
As already noted don't do anyting to anything until you know what you have. This may take time, but could end up being well worth it all. Try sorting out coins of similar type and same with currency. Not sure what country? Ask here and take your time. Don't clean anyting until you know for sure what it is. You could end up cleaning a coin worth many thousands of dollars if not cleaned and now worth much, much less. Actually you could really ruin a coin not knowing what your doing or what it is.Again, take your time looking up each coin and it's condition. When in doubt, ask here. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19931 Posts |
DO NOT CLEAN YOUR COINS!
Collectors like them dirty, cleaning them will remove up to 90% of their numismatic value.
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New Member
Macedonia
25 Posts |
Great. You just saved me countless hours cleaning them! NaHCO3- Soda bath :). I rearranged half of the fifth picture coins I got 1 pair very very old scissors some gun ww2 pieces another rifle pieces guess atleast 140 years old or even more approx 60 ottoman coins 4 ancient coins some badges not much 60 70 , Yugoslavia coins dating 1900-1980, bulgaria 1881 to 1940, about 200 worldwide coins some dutch french italian english american(i think oldest was 1500 something) etc...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1186 Posts |
If that 1500 something coin is 1513 or earlier,there is a " how far back can we go" thread on this same main coin forum. Right now,we are at 1513. |
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Replies: 16 / Views: 15,134 |
Posted 05/08/2013 11:02 am
