Who Cleans Coins And Why

Cleaning used to be an acceptable practice. Some people even would use wax or varnish to make their coins more appealing.

Of course cleaning is still an acceptable practice with ancient coins where there is no real choice.

WELCOME TO THE FORUM.
Common question. Many wonder what the big deal is with this no cleaning stuff. Some do clean coins and most don't. The primary reason is originality. Second, and just as important is damaging a coin. If you ever watched the Antique Road Show on TV you would hear many times someone saying "If this hadn't been cleaned" or "If this hadn't been modified" it would have been worth many times what is now is. Very old furnature should not be cleaned, sanded or painted. Old Oil paintings should not be tampered with. Old Guns, Knives, etc. same thing. If something just has to be cleaned, there are professionals that know how. It's basically the amateur cleaners that destroy something they clean.
One main thing is on a metallic item like a coin, corrosion, toning, tarnishing, occurs. This is a chemical reaction with the metal of the coin and outside substances. When such a coin is cleaned to remove this contamination, part of the metal of the coin is removed with it. At times this leaves pot marks or deep abrasions.
So as a rule people try to not clean anything of value and/or old.
Now for me, it's back to cleaning all my old coins.

The only time I clean is if they are worn "junk" silver, or actually have dirt obscuring significant portions of the coin. For dirt it's soap and water. For junk silver, it's jewelry cleaner.