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 Replies: 28 / Views: 10,292 |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
I know you aren't suppose to clean coins but some are just so bad you can't read anything on them. I was told that a hot sauce like tobacco works fast and does not damage the coin. Does anyone know if this is true?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4691 Posts |
I wouldn't use it, it is acidic.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1373 Posts |
Quote:
...a hot sauce like tobacco... I'm thinking you mean like Tabasco sauce. I'm not sure about what it would do to coins but it does give your colon a kick. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
Most all liquid sauces contain acidic compounds. They will clean your coin (depending on the problem) and damage the metal underneath (acids dissolve metal). That said - If you have a unreadable disk and you want to know what it is, then cleaning is perfectly acceptable and SHOULD be performed. Personally, I'd rather have a cleaned (potential) 1909-SVDB than a unreadable disk sitting in a box somewhere. I've been a coin searcher (bank boxes/bags) for a long time and I've cleaned hundreds of coins with running faucet hot water, my fingers, and sometimes a bit of concentrated dish soap. It's very effective and doesn't really damage or completely ruin the surfaces. This is one such coin that received that treatment, I got a "cleaned" 1910! Before, it was COMPLETELY covered on both sides, literally unreadable except I knew it was a penny. I'd rather have this than nothing, I almost threw it into my junk bucket!   Edited by BadThad
03/27/2019 7:02 pm
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New Member
 United States
6 Posts |
Yes,tobasco sorry, tobacco would just stain a coin I'm sure. Hehehe that would be another hot topic.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
575 Posts |
Baking soda and distilled water?
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Valued Member
United States
135 Posts |
Don't clean your coins, especially with that. Cleaning is a no-no and is generally seen as Rule #1 of collecting.
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Moderator
 United States
187914 Posts |
 to the Community! |
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Valued Member
United States
318 Posts |
Are you planning to eat your coin?
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Valued Member
United States
318 Posts |
Use the Search feature of this site. There have been some great discussions about do's and do nots when it comes to those who choose to clean coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Hot Sauce, ketchup, barbacue sauce, soy sauce etc all tend to have the same "cleaning compound" in common. Vinegar, also known as acetic acid, which combines readily with copper to form copper acetate which is water soluble. So the "cleaning" is performed by simply removing a layer of the surface of the coin. And removing the surface is definitely damage.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
If you do use a hot sauce on a coin, and then eat it, the hot sauce and your stomach acids will certainly clean the coin. However, you would only find out for sure when a doctor takes it out of your stomach.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8516 Posts |
Quote:
If you do use a hot sauce on a coin, and then eat it, the hot sauce and your stomach acids will certainly clean the coin. However, you would only find out for sure when a doctor takes it out of your stomach. Wonder what kind of toning you would get ! Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Valued Member
United States
287 Posts |
Hot sauce zinc cents make for fantastic appetizers for any occasion. Copper ones are good too, but don't give your stomach that signature 'churn' the zincs are famous for.
(Please don't quote me on this in the future)
YGP
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Valued Member
United States
443 Posts |
I wouldn't normally clean a coin, but sometimes there so bad they have no numismatic value anyways, especially if you can't tell what they are. So once I figured there really wasn't any value in the state it was in, I would try to clean it up, to help identify it. Here's an example of one I cleaned up and found out out it was different than what I thought it was before cleaning.     In this case I don't think I lost value. Please let me know if I'm wrong, and I won't do this again. Thanks |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
This certainly isn't the first time this subject has come up. As suggested, do a search within our community for more details. I wouldn't recommend cleaning your coins in any fashion, period, but maybe that's just me. My golden retriever ate a roll of 2019 pennies, all 50 in one gulp. I didn't see them go in, but picked the results on one of our nightly walks. What her stomach acid did to those shiny new pennies wasn't pretty. (No dogs were harmed in this "tail", not to worry). Moral to this story is any sort of acid isn't good for your coins. Use your rotten pennies to buy better ones. You'll never know what those nasty ones have gone through before they reached you.  |
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Replies: 28 / Views: 10,292 |
Posted 03/27/2019 6:38 pm
