How To Ruin Coins By Cleaning~ - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 11 / Views: 1,381
clembo Valued Member United States 442 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 12:08 am I took the time to actually do this so I'm posting it on a few forums. ********WARNING!!******** This may be offensive to the numismatically squeemish. Ok folks, I see enough threads about cleaning coins. How to do it, how not to do it, should I do it. Well, for most the answer is a resounding just LEAVE THEM AS THEY ARE. So, I thought a bit more about this and what I see "walk in" at the coin shop. For those that DON'T work in a coin shop it would scare you at times. Fairly recent purchases by my boss were a complete set of Standing Liberty quarters (including the 1916 AND 1918/17S and a complete set of Indian cents. I hate to say but well over 50% of these coins had taken a harsh cleaning in the past including ALL of the key dates. The keys were sent to ANACS for grading and authentication. The few "better" coins that escaped cleaning were sent to NGC. This information in mind it's time for the clembo version of let's pretend. Ready? Here's a few scans. Let's pretend the Lincoln is a 1909S-VDB and the Mercury is 1916-D. Hmmm.... Decent examples for the rarity and look original. The SVDB is a bit spotty and the 16-D DOES have a sizeable rim ding. Still nice coins and worth some bucks. NOW (once again pretending) these are key dates let's assume these were inherited and a total novice or absolute non-collector wants to sell them. I have seen coins brought in looking like this. EGADS!! Then you might hear "I've been working on cleaning these up for a few days now". GASP!! Yes, we'll buy them at maybe 20% bid because someone will want a cheap "hole filler". Bottom line here is it REALLY does happen folks and it's a great reason to steer away from cleaning coins. If you're going to do it read up. Practice on "worthless" coins but just try to stay away from it. I sacrificed two commons to make a point here. The scans were taken within minutes of one another. First came the originals. Then I dipped them in silver jewelry cleaner. Had to take a Qtip to the Lincoln and is that nasty or what? The dime isn't so bad. Still worth melt - I'll spend the Lincoln. I trashed two coins for the benefit of my friends at CCF. When you get over your horror pass it along to someone that needs to know this. clembo Report this Post to the Staff

BH1964 Bedrock of the Community United States 10982 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 01:40 am Hi clembo, What media was used? The pink Lincoln makes me think MS70. The dime could have have dipped in E-Z-est. ANA #R3154474 Report this Post to the Staff
clembo Valued Member United States 442 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 02:26 am bherring1964, I just used a jewelry cleaner that has been in my house for years. Meant for sterling silver. I destroyed these coins as an example basically. The whole point of the thread is that coins left as they are fare better. Too many people buy a "wonder" product then do what I did intentionally. They see the word clean and equate with value not knowing they are destroying value. Report this Post to the Staff
KurtS Pillar of the Community United States 5318 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 02:27 am Your article visibly illustrates how destructive cleaning is to coins. This will be very helpful to collectors here and others who even search google on coin cleaning. Report this Post to the Staff
yotie Pillar of the Community United States 3077 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 08:21 am would steel wool and a brass wire brush be a better option? Report this Post to the Staff
CoyoteMoss Valued Member United States 116 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 09:21 am Excellent post Clembo, when the question of cleaning comes up this will make a great reference to answer the question. And now just to add to a funny, your absolutely right Yotie, steel wool and a brass wire brush would be a better option. I mean if your going to destroy a coin, why not do it right. Report this Post to the Staff
just carl Bedrock of the Community United States 20753 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 1:32 pm Quote: would steel wool and a brass wire brush be a better option? That sort of depends on the material of the coin. A Brass wire brush will leave some Brass on a Copper coin. As for steel wool, you should stipulate the grade. This is important when polishing coins. I prefer battery acid. Darn those people with the sealed batteries. Report this Post to the Staff
BadThad Bedrock of the Community United States 19945 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 3:35 pm Great examples! Lincoln Cent Lover! VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/ Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 188213 Posts	Posted 01/04/2009 8:34 pm Good examples, thanks for sharing! Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
florida Valued Member United States 417 Posts	Posted 01/08/2009 2:01 pm Quote: Quote: would steel wool and a brass wire brush be a better option? That sort of depends on the material of the coin. A Brass wire brush will leave some Brass on a Copper coin. As for steel wool, you should stipulate the grade. This is important when polishing coins. I prefer battery acid. Darn those people with the sealed batteries. Nah, lacquer is the way to go! Nice and shiny! It'll grade MS-69 or MS-70 in my basement coin grading office. Report this Post to the Staff
nod2003 Pillar of the Community United States 3294 Posts	Posted 01/08/2009 2:43 pm Folks, I think you are forgetting an important option to make the coins worth so much more, First, you sandblast it Then you slap a colorful Obama sticker on it Then you can sell it on an unnamed cable channel for big $. Report this Post to the Staff
just carl Bedrock of the Community United States 20753 Posts	Posted 01/08/2009 4:37 pm Quote: Folks, I think you are forgetting an important option to make the coins worth so much more, First, you sandblast it Then you slap a colorful Obama sticker on it Then you can sell it on an unnamed cable channel for big $. See this is the problem with giving out incomplete information. Some new colletor may go out and try this without knowing that there are numerous grades of sand for those blasting machines. Too fine a grain would serve little purpose and not polish as much. Some large pieces would do to much. A medium grade sand should have been stipulated you know. Just for the record I've attempted to utilize jewelry cleaners of all sorts on rather dismal, no worth coins. It is amazing just how many different types of those cleaners are out there. Walmart by me carries about 6 different solutions of jewelery cleaners. What I found to be the worst thing with those is attempting to continue using them after cleaning just about everything in a person's house. The solution is now contaminated with almost every thing placed on this Earth. May as well place the coins in a catch basin or just bury them in dirt. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 11 / Views: 1,381

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