How To Clean This Dirty 1877 Silver Coin?

I'd leave the coin alone. It has character.

If you must, maybe a quick bath in some acetone.

First rule is do NOTHING. Cleaning coins is a very risky activity - there is a very fine line between conservation (ok if done by a professional) and cleaning which destroys the numismatic value.

How much is the coin worth? If it's worth a non-trivial amount, it's definitely worth the professional treatment.

If it's worth nearly nothing, then we can guide you through the first couple of very low risk steps.


Regardless, understand the risk. That gunk may have been there a long time and may be protecting the original surface of the coin. The part that wasn't covered has toned over time due to exposure to the elements. So if you remove it, you now have a large white patch against a dark body - and that will have a much less desirable look.


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One thing is that you might pull off the gunk and find that the area under the gunk has been preserved better than the rest of the coin. Then it looks cleaned and uneven and much less natural than it does now as a dirty coin. It's just a gamble, even with "safe" cleaning like water and acetone.

I was going to say "NO, don't do it!" but having seen the coin it is pretty ugly!

I know some of my contacts have had success with soaking older silver coins in olive oil. The kind you put on salads will do!

It is a slow process and you can check it every now and then by taking it out, giving it a rinse in water (distilled if you have it) and then acetone to remove last traces. If you don't feel it's cleaned enough .. back into the olive oil. If you take a photo each time you can check the progress.

It can take several weeks if not months to make a difference but it will loosen surface dirt and can work on more stubborn residues. Pop the coin in a small pot, ideally with a lid, add enough oil to cover and occasionally swirl it a bit. You never know, it might help.

Good luck and welcome!

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Welcome to Coin Community, king90. This one's going to be difficult; I'm not sure anything will bring it back from where it is. And even if you can remove what's on it, the result will inevitably show that it's been worked on. The less-covered surfaces will have aged at a different rate, so the result will show "cleaned" patches. This is a judgment you'll have to make, and you'll have to consider whether any of that is still actively eating at the silver, which will force your hand. Sometimes you have no choice but to clean, in order to save what's left. I worry the most about the greenish patches and the top of the obverse. That latter looks like environmental rust from elsewhere that attached itself to the coin, ugly but not dangerous, and possibly removable at the cost of a clean surface underneath.

You've already figured out the right thing to do regarding acetone, and in this case I'm going to strongly recommend that you make use of it and worry less than you might normally about the coin looking "cleaned." There's too much chance of continued harm, from what I see, to not intervene.

But you have to make these decisions on a coin-by-coin basis. We'll be happy to offer input regarding the others.

OK. Shoot for a glass container around 60-75ml (I use large shot glasses), and I cover them with a small pane of glass for a good seal. Threaded baby food jars are another good one, but you may need more acetone. That setup will give you reasonable assurance of an overnight soak without much evaporation, with most efficient use of acetone. Try to use that quantity - 2-3 US oz - as your "standard," because in any given application you may use that much half a dozen times, and it adds up. Even for the "rinsing" swish afterwards.

Some are more or less susceptible to irritation from acetone. Me, I can suspend fingertips in it to grab a coin with my fingernails and move it around a bit without being bothered. If you're more sensitive, it won't physically hurt you but you'll sure think it is.

Set your soaking station on a kitchen windowsill with the window cracked, or a similar area where the inevitable evaporation can't reach any flammable concentration. This is an abundance of caution, not a firm safety step. 75ml of acetone won't contaminate a whole room even to smellable concentration - and you'll smell it if it concentrates enough. I'm perfectly happy using it in a bathroom with the door closed and a window cracked an inch.

OK. The coin wants to remain vertical so both faces can be exposed to the acetone. That's one of the reason I use the rounded-bottom liquor glass as a flat-bottom container makes this much more difficult. Give it overnight - for this one, if evaporation allows give it 24 hours for the long soaks - and then swish upon removal in fresh solution. No water ever, either to rinse the coin or the container. Soap and water on the container after you're done, of course.

Soon as you're done with the rinse, attack that upper obverse stuff with a toothpick to see if you loosened it. It will be encouraging if it does. Anything else on the coin that has "thickness," hit with a toothpick. If you have roses, thorns are ideal. Even better if you have a porcupine in the household, but he may not like you removing his quills and it's never advisable to anger a porcupine.

Don't "scribble" with the toothpick - directed point-first shots either down into the center or working at the edge. Don't smear things.

Give it as much as three consecutive long soaks of this nature. If that does not make a visible difference in the coin, your troubles are likely beyond the acetone. Come back here with "after" pics and we'll consider the next move.

I'm far from out of suggestions.

Most importantly- DON'T CLEAN IT! 99% of the time, it's best to leave a coin as you found it. Cleaning chemicals cause microscopic damage to the metal. A cleaned coin is very obvious to dealers and collectors, I found a 1909-S wheatie in an album with a Red Book value of about $135. Unfortunately, it was cleaned, and at a major show, I couldn't get offers over $55. It's a shame so many people don't know this and ruin old and valuable coins. Anyway, that coin is fine as it is. Unless a bit of water can rinse that crud off, just leave it alone.