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* What is a reasonable number of coins per amount of distilled water? For example, 50 Lincoln cents per quart of distilled water.
Depends on how dirty the coins are. Water is cheap (even distilled), so I wonder why you care. Are you cleaning thousands upon thousands of coins so you need to consider your costs?
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* Should one gently swirl the water and coins in the tightly sealed glass container? Or would the risk of coin-on-coin scratches outweigh any benefit?
I would do no swirling whatsoever for the exact reason of potentially scratching the coin(s). Also, not just from coin-on-coin contact, but also contact with your container.
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* If one wants to balance thoroughness with efficiency, what would a reasonable soak time/water change schedule look like? For example, soak for 8 hours, change water, soak another 8 hours, change water, soak 8 hours, change water, soak 1 hour - remove and pat dry.
Again, this depends on how dirty the coins are and how patient you are. If you have dozens or even hundreds of reasonably clean coins, I wouldn't think that it would matter a whole lot for most copper cents. Maybe adjust your cleaning schedule to your work/school schedule so that you change things once a day or once a week. Otherwise, you may find yourself beholden to a strict regimen.
One final note that many collectors of
US coins are pretty anti-cleaning. I would strongly advise that you consider not cleaning your coins, especially those that have much numismatic value. You want shiny wheat cents from the 1950s? Fine. IMHO, don't even think about touching that 1909-S VBD.
Posted 08/25/2016 5:46 pm
