Removing Various 'Gunk' From Commemorative Coins

Here we go again. I like this topic.

Your dealer used something on the coin which would destroy any collector value it had, if it was known that such a substance had been used on it. Fingerprints more than a few hours old are not removable from coins with any process which passes muster with a grading service.

Having said that, it's possible to use such processes without them being detected. It isn't something I'm easily persuaded to discuss in public, because I do not want to be the cause of members ruining their coins through improper use of the information provided. Not only do you have to do it exactly right, you have to have the judgment to use it on coins which won't show the effects afterwards, and the two are interrelated.

I hope you don't find it offensive that I'm being deliberately deceptive here - I'm thinking as much for the other members reading this thread as for you.

Do_not buy coins which have smudges that bother you. The removal of those smudges is an iffy thing, and you risk wrecking the coin by even attempting it.

I wonder if he used Windex...

Joke or not, I'm sure lots of people have tried Windex. Have you ever seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? Someone there really likes Windex.

Windex has ammonia, which is pretty powerful stuff in full concentration. The stuff we buy is diluted and colored to look pretty. It can react with metals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammoni...ns_of_metals

A lot of alternative household cleaners like Simple Greener do not have ammonia and tout themselves as environmentally friendly. Be wary. What's good for your counter tops may make your coins scream in agony.

-- Boris

Be careful not to leave soap residue on the coin. Also, I would not advise tap water personally because of things that can be in it like fluorine, salts etc...

I have been drying my coins with canned air - the same cans you can buy at like Staples and Office Depot for blowing out dust under the keys of your keyboard. That may help avoid spots. +1 on the distilled water. I have a home water distiller so I get to see all the yucky distiller residue left behind from boiling tap water. It's not pretty. Even purified water isn't pure. Distilled water can had cheaply and easily from the supermarket.

-- Boris

Using either one will ruin the mirrors of a proof. Soap and water will not help that coin and chances are that you will make it worse in the process. Conserving proof coins is a tricky proposition and one that can easily go bad quickly. Your proof has toning haze that can be found on many improperly handled/stored proofs, proofs are especially susceptible to this hazing.


Easier said than done, you would just be better off not purchasing impaired coins in the future. You have to ask yourself this question- "If it was easy to remove smudges on a proof, then why would people sell them at a reduced price with the smudges?" They are your coins so proceed as you wish, I just do not want to see a new thread asking how to remove hairlines

Since your determined to clean off whatever is on your coin, let me throw in my 2 CENTS. NOTE however, that once cleaned, it is a cleaned coin. If it were a reasonably valuable coin prior to cleaning, it would loose much of it's value from the cleaning. That too depends on the cleaning process. If you ever watched the Antique Road Show on TV you would have heard them say things like "If you hadn't of cleaned this it would have been worth double or more".
First the main reason for the cleaning ruining the value. Most items that are old have attracted substances that are now adhearing to the items outer surface either by just coating or by chemically combining. When you remove the foreign substance, you usually remove some or a lot of the original surface and sometimes even more. This may well leave dents, scratches, holes, pot marks, etc on the item. Then too some of the originality of the surface atractiveness may also be now lost forever. A proof coin's surface, for instance, is like a mirror and would show the slightest attempts to clean with a brush, cotton ball, paper towel, etc.
If you insist on attempting to clean any coin, start with the simple things. Try soaking in distilled water for a period of time. Days or even a few weeks will not effect a coin.
If that fails, attempt to use Acetone. Use the search section of this forum for the possible billions of items on that topic. (Slight exageration you know),Only millions.
Now if this fails to remove whatever you want removed and you still want to continue, try the many other simple things people always do to both save money, time and running around buying stuff you'll never use again. Some try many things on coins they find around the house. Such as:
Olive Oil, Vinegar, Tomato Juice, lemon Juice, Lime Juice, Bakiing soda and water into a paste, Laquer thinner, paint thinner and almost anything else laying around. Some try putting the coin in boiling water, freeze it then dump in hot water, spit on the coin and rub with your fingers and almost anthing else.
Myself, I've even used battery acid on a Copper coin. Guess you could call it a Half Cent now.
Some time ago I purchased a 1995 Lincoln Cent Double Die for practically nothing. It had a finger print right on the front and a big one. With nothing to loose, I dipped it in jewelery cleaner from Walmart. Old stuff too. Finger print came right off and the cent sure is nice and shinning now.

Hello,

Well I did it! I tried cleaning my 1987 Constitution Bicentennial Dollar and.....nothing happened. So, I took it to my local dealer and asked him what he thought of the coin he said, "Looks fine to me." I said there was "gunk" all over it so he used a 10x magnifying glass and looked again and then said, "Looks fine to me." So he asked me what power of magnification I'm using and I told him a scanner which probably magnifies the coin about 150 times.

He then spent about 10 minutes lecturing me on the fact that if you look at a coin straight on with 150 power magnification of course you are going to see every little imperfection and hairline. His advice was to look at the coin from different angles and let the light hit it different ways. He told me if I spend my time worrying about what others think and the imperfections that can't be seen with 10x power then I'll never be able to enjoy my collection.

I stressed to him like I stress here that resale value is not my top reason for collecting. He said that is good in the case of that particular coin anyway, since I'd only get about $8 for it. I paid $12, which is a loss of $4. The current spot price for silver is roughly $12 so really it is not that big of a deal to me.

So, just to ease my mind I asked him if I brought him the same coin that had never been opened how much he would give me in comparison to my coin. He said $8. That tells me really not to worry about things I can't see with 10x magnification.

Here are the pictures (magnified about 150 times of course.)







So, any thoughts on what I learned?

Thanks,
Rich