Question About Cleaning Coins - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 1,023
xxxxmadnessxxxx Valued Member United States 69 Posts	Posted 10/06/2006 12:54 am went to a science store to pick-up a handheld illuminated 30X microscope the other day... while I was there I came across a coin cleaning machine involving water and ultra-sonic waves. supposedly you fill it with water and your coins and it literally cleans the coins by ultra-sonic waves. the machine costs roughly $30-40. is this method safe for coins? Report this Post to the Staff

markn Pillar of the Community Australia 1295 Posts	Posted 10/06/2006 02:15 am I'm not entirely sure there's any safe method for cleaning collectable non-ancient coins. Some people will use Acetone to remove finger oil or other organic deposits. However in an ultrasoni bath and if the coin has toning or a patina the ultrasonic machine could end up disturbing this giving the coin an un-natural look. This can result in a lower value. Safest thing to do is to not clean them. Report this Post to the Staff
Snooba Pillar of the Community Australia 1360 Posts	Posted 10/06/2006 05:20 am Unless of course you are dealing with PVC gunk or with verdigris, then you really need to clean them to stop it spreading. There are some really good threads regarding the cleaning of coins on the Forum. Sap has a particularly good one, I've put the link below just in case! I've also included the link to TSOTL's cleaning thread. https://goccf.com/t/5864 https://goccf.com/t/8375 Report this Post to the Staff
biokemist6 Bedrock of the Community United States 12437 Posts	Posted 10/06/2006 12:03 pm An ultrasonic bath wont remove any toning or patina or physically alter the metal. It will only remove surface dirt. It is usually used as a jewelry cleaner. The biggest problem is the fact that the baths are usually made of metal themselves and the ultrasonic vibrations will move the coin around on the metal surfaces creating hairlines or scratches. For most coins it is an unnecessary overkill. The best use for ultrasonic baths is metal detector find coins with lots of soil and grime on them. Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16845 Posts	Posted 10/06/2006 11:02 pm with biokemist: it's largely un-necessary. The ultrasonic cleaning itself should be harmless, but the trick is to suspend the coin in the water without touching anything else - like the sides of the container, or other coins. Any kind of contact like that can create a point of friction, with the ultrasonics creating accelerated artificial wear at the contact points. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
xxxxmadnessxxxx Valued Member United States 69 Posts	Posted 10/07/2006 12:45 am alrighty, thanks for the advice. I appreciate it. -Madness Report this Post to the Staff
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