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Coin Cleaning - What Is Soap?

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Nuggetlucky's Avatar
United States
52 Posts
 Posted 03/24/2017  3:11 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add Nuggetlucky to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
I know what soap is... But there are all kinds of soap. so I am wondering, what soap do people use to clean coins? Most soaps have all kinds of additives. I cant find a single brand that doesn't.
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T-BOP's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/24/2017  3:29 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add T-BOP to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
The kind of soap we use Well soap is not in our vocabulary . Another words Don't clean your coins !
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bmar's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/24/2017  3:58 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add bmar to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I have found coins were there was so much grime on them I couldn't make out the date and/or mint mark, what would be best to do with coins like these?
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oriole's Avatar
Canada
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 Posted 03/24/2017  4:00 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add oriole to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Acetone is always harmless to coins.
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Buddy's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/24/2017  4:20 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Buddy to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Use only pure acetone and let it sit for awhile.
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Crazyb0's Avatar
10197 Posts
 Posted 03/24/2017  6:25 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Crazyb0 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
And if you just HAVE to pick after a soak, use a toothpick!
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Justinokay's Avatar
United States
564 Posts
 Posted 03/24/2017  6:55 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Justinokay to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Think of soap as an acid. Never use soap on coins.
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jbuck's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/25/2017  01:03 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
I have found coins were there was so much grime on them I couldn't make out the date and/or mint mark, what would be best to do with coins like these?
Follow Bad Thad's polarity ladder.
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Nuggetlucky's Avatar
United States
52 Posts
 Posted 03/25/2017  09:26 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Nuggetlucky to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Jbuck. Thanks. For that article. Didn't know about xy. I do some metal detecting and some coins could be cleaned ok.
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 Posted 03/25/2017  10:38 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add just carl to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
When I was a kid I used to clean dirty coins with a soap called Lava. Sure ruined the coins but they did shine.
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BadThad's Avatar
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 Posted 03/25/2017  7:26 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add BadThad to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Metal detecting is a wholly different game, generally, found coins must be cleaned in some fashion. The Polarity Ladder was written for "normal" coins, not for those those found buried. That said, the first step I'd take on a dirt coin is hot, running tap water and your fingers. I've had good luck with that method on very dirty coins.
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Edited by BadThad
03/25/2017 7:26 pm
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fistfulladirt's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/26/2017  08:17 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add fistfulladirt to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I've tumbled thousands of dirty, mostly modern, previously buried coins in a rock tumbler, using a drop or two of liquid soap, aquarium gravel, and H20 to cover, for about a half an hour. These are the only coins that I clean.

Always separate clad from copper when tumbling.
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Edited by fistfulladirt
03/26/2017 08:18 am
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nss-52's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/26/2017  08:25 am  Show Profile   Check nss-52's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add nss-52 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
I've tumbled thousands of dirty, mostly modern, previously buried coins in a rock tumbler


Not recommended for anything except coins you will be spending and NOT collecting.
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Nuggetlucky's Avatar
United States
52 Posts
 Posted 03/26/2017  09:30 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Nuggetlucky to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
So I was reading about MS70 Everyone says don't use soap. But when I found the ingredients isn't it really just soap?
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SPP-Ottawa's Avatar
Canada
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 Posted 03/28/2017  3:31 pm  Show Profile   Check SPP-Ottawa's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add SPP-Ottawa to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I have used pure liquid ivory soap sometimes, and only with my bare (and clean) fingers. It really depends on the coin, and if the coins is worth the damage already incurred to it from dirt, corrosion, etc...
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert Oppenheimer

Content of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_US

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SPP-Ottawa's Avatar
Canada
10456 Posts
 Posted 03/28/2017  3:36 pm  Show Profile   Check SPP-Ottawa's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add SPP-Ottawa to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
To follow my comments on the soap up, this pure nickel coin was from a 1973 Canadian Prestige Double Dollar mint set. The coins in that set were placed in open red felt-like slots (not encapsulated). When I rescued this coin it was covered in a red fluff. A hot water bath, and light touch with liquid ivory soap on my fingertips managed to remove the red fluff and some of the haze affiliated from it. Is it perfect now? No, because a tiny part of the coin's surface has been altered (you can see that in the obverse photo).

But, using only my fingertips, no hairlines were imparted upon the coin. PCGS thought it was good enough to pass muster. It is now in a PCGS SP66 holder.

Coin-Cleaning---What-Is-Soap?
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert Oppenheimer

Content of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_US

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