Cleaning

No, no no no no. In a word, No. Wiping is about the worst thing you can do, well sort of. As an experiment, I took a old worn dark brown Lincoln Cent, sprinkled a few grains of sand on it and then wiped it off with my finger, not applying pressure, just a wipe. I then put it under my new Omano microscope (yes I was playing) and looked at it under 20X. Thru the scope there were fine lines through the dark brown surface and hints of bright copper shining thru. I could not see it with my magnifying glass, but it was there at 20X. I later found out that even my fingernail would do the same thing. What I am getting at is you do not want to try and wipe off anything as it will possibly damage the surface. Some use an acetone bath, others use a freezing method and I am sure there will get other ideas, also. You will be tempted to try and clean coins off and on and to prepare, I would suggest taking old garbage coins of different composition and try various cleaning methods. You will find out what seems to work and what does not. Last, if you do a search on cleaning coins on this website you should be able to draw up some very enlightening discussions on this subject.
Jim

Hmmmm...what if you use liquid soap and a wet paper towel?

Using a wet rag on coins is like using rough toilet paper on your skin. You know that hurts. The only difference between a coin and a human skin is that a human skin can regenerate dead cells over time but not for coins. Anything harsher like cotton table cloth, steel wool etc is like using sandpaper to wipe yourself dry after a shower.

Hey GX, would Charmin work?
Jim

If you are going to daub to absorb something on a coin. Press down on the coin only. Do not slide/rub as that will leave permanet damage to a coin. Best to leave it alone rather than try something you can't erase. Experiment on circulated coin, save the good ones till you are sure what will work. Many of the tihngs collectors did in the past to coins we now know will damage coins. So what may be acceptable today will be a NO NO in the future. So is is best to leave the coin in the current condition.