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 Replies: 12 / Views: 3,808 |
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
Hello everyone. First time posting. I have about 2500 old tokens of various origin. Mostly arcade, parking, laundry, and amusement tokens that I bought in bulk. We are having a medieval themed wedding and plan to give out coins to all participants for a "gaming hall" event. They will play with these coins as their currency for the night and will handle them for a while. I handled them while counting out lots of 20 per person and I was quickly left with black grime on my hands. Yuck. I washed them in the tub, soaked them in a mild detergent overnight, and washed them well. They still look pretty awful... My question is: Is there any way to clean them so they are shiny and closer to a new look? I should stress that they are JUNK. They aren't even real currency and are mostly brass or a "silver" like nickel or something. I don't care about their value - they are worthless tokens. How would you clean bulk junk coins?  |
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Valued Member
United States
324 Posts |
Do you know anyone who reloads ammunition? I overstrike cents and nickels with dies I make and to polish the coins beforehand, put them in a vibratory polisher that it the same thing thing that bullet reloaders use to polish their brass cartridge casings. It is basically a bucket mounted on a motor with a bad vibration. They have them at Harbor Freight for around $60 and is use ground corn cob as the polishing media that I bought at a gun shop. Works great.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
They are copper based for the most part. You can polish them if you want but handle them for a little while and your hands will still get that black "grime" on them. The coins will look shiny though. (That black grime is copper compounds from the reaction of the copper with your skin oils, acids, and salt in your sweat being deposited on your skin.)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
If this is literally for a single evening, you could just put them in a bucket and pour in a gallon or two of cheap distilled vinegar. It'll strip everything down to the copper.
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New Member
 United States
4 Posts |
Ok thank you all for the suggestions. I tried using vinegar and salt last night and it seemed to turn many of them a bit pink. Is that reversible? Anyone know if Barkeeps Friend or boiling them works? It's all pretty labor intensive considering the sheer number of coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
I guess I must ask, why do you want to clean them in the first place?
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
Coinfrog, he's using them at a party and doesn't want his guests to have dirty hands.
tintagel -- it sort of wrecks the medieval theme but you could just provide a lot of hand sanitizer and towels.
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
Yes, the hand sanitizers and stuff are good and we will likely use them, but we intend to be playing while we eat, so I'd like them as shiny and sanitized as possible. I don't want them to look dingy.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Oops - missed that!  How about bleach? Edited by Coinfrog
09/02/2016 5:19 pm
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
If you had to clean a hundred I'd say dish soap and a toothbrush -- one at a time. But 2500? Since it's a holiday weekend you could do it in your yard with a hose and buckets. Bribe the kids in the neighborhood.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4932 Posts |
Put them in a bucket of acid........
alright I'm done.
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
Tried bleach and it did little to nothing. SO far, vinegar + salt bath for 1-5 minutes seems to work best. I fill a pan with the solution, then drop in about 100 coins and agitate them. Then pick out the ones that start looking shiny. Cleans about 1/2 of them fine, and the others I put into a "still funky" bucket. Take the shiny ones and rub them with baking soda solution. Repeat.
I've tried re-bathing the funky ones a second time with about 50% results, but haven't tried a third time yet. Thanks for the feedback and ideas!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1314 Posts |
The reloader's vibrating brass polisher works well.
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Replies: 12 / Views: 3,808 |
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Posted 09/01/2016 01:10 am
