Confused About Cleaned Coins

With the exception of Morgans, every coin minted before about 1920 should show some natural toning. If you see a 160 year old Seated coin that has no tarnish whatsoever, there is a 99% chance the coin is dipped.

A Coin that is called X (Insert Grade) Details-Cleaned can yes very well be worth 25-50% of Book Value when it gives the coin a white flash appearance that is unnatural. The most obvious way to spot this kind of stuff is the rotate it in the light and if the luster flashes all at once instead of rolls in the light then the coin is cleaned. Another obvious tell is if the coin is littered with hairlines --- especially under grades XF which will not have any luster to begin with. If it is a copper coin and you see hot pink (think like the 1950s color that Mamie Eisenhower popularized especially for bathrooms) avoid that like the plague. That coin is next to impossible to sell. Some cleaning will not hurt the coin. If I am looking at the American Bust series (1808-1836) I would expect to see the old soap wash cleaning that was typical of that era. This is okay so long as you can see an old coin silver patina and it is no covered with hairlines. Some coins though do need to be dipped so you can make a sale on it. Brown grocery bag toning on late 1930s to 1960s silver coin is just plain old ugly. A quick dip usually takes this off and turns the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

What about the vibrating coin baths advertised on Wizard Coin Supply? The vibrations cause the coins to rattle at the bottom of the little tub--that must do SOME damage. And yet WCS is selling them. Is it because some coins are just so manky looking that they're not going to sell unless they get some help?

Also, I know you're supposed to handle coins by the edges only, but there are simply times you can't be that strict about it. Like removing a coin from the non-archival flip the dealer had it in--sometimes those suckers stick. And the times when a hand tremor or bump causes you to nearly drop a coin and you catch it in your hand. And c'mon, any circulated coin over 100 years old has skin oil on it, unless it's been dipped and only touched correctly ever after.

Sometimes I think those rules are a little silly (admittedly, I'm a newb). The other day a dealer pulled out a shoebox STUFFED with shiny (mostly pretty recent, from what I could tell) pennies and pushed it over the counter at me. I reached for one and he all but swatted my hand away.

Seriously, those coins, especially the ones at the bottom, are grinding away at each other, doing far more damage than I could possibly do, even if I touched one on the face. And OMG, guys--PENNIES! Unless there was a 1909 VDB in there, I think he was being ridiculous.

Lesson learned, though. Never touch a coin, even if it seems to be offered to you, without express permission.

That said, the whole skin oil thing, when carried to extremes like that, makes no sense to me. As I say, I'm a newb. Maybe someone can explain the guy. I left feeling like he thought I had cooties. Not a dealer I'll likely revisit.

ROCK TUMBLER? If you aren't being facetious, why?

One thing that is characteristic of uncleaned silver dollars AU and above is cartwheel luster. It's caused by microscopic radial metal flow lines formed in striking. Cartwheel is removed by wiping, cleaning and even light circulation. If I don't see it on high grade Morgan or Peace dollars I avoid them.

Cascade just posted an excellent cartwheel video on an 1882-S Morgan in Moe's Old West thread.

Wow, I didn't know this was such a hot topic. We have two directly opposite answers as to cleaning. Acetone either is, or is not "cleaning" a coin.

I would say that it IS cleaning, but unless I told you it had been bathed in acetone, would you be able to tell?

So...is it a deal breaker and a problem?

It does boil down to chemistry. You cannot dispute the effects of acetone on metals of any kind, it's established.

To be honest, I'm more worried about rinsing coins in distilled water than placing them in acetone.

I have no problem buying a so called cleaned coin as long as it hasn't been harshly cleaned. Many times at a coin show I see coins marked as cleaned and a really big reduction in price. If I need it or just like it, I'll buy it. Since I never sell coins and keep them for myself, no worries about any future problems with a cleaned coin, I really don't care that much about cleaned coins. Again, though, just not harshly done.