Repairing Harshly Cleaned Coins

Scarred for life! You can't undo damage - you'd end up just messing with the coin even more and worsening things. If you used it as a pocket peice, additional wear might decrease the prominence of some of the hairlines, but of course the coin will be more worn as well.

Put that silver/copper coin in some kind of envelope for 20 years and maybe it will develop some nice toning that will distract from the obvious. But as a collector, when your making the purchase, don't you ask the current owner if they think that the coin looks like it has been cleaned? I always do, especially on ebay when I want to know their return policy.

You put the coin into a rock tumbler lined with vulcanized rubber and use 6000-9000 grit (same as they use for polishing platinum jewelry) for 8-48 hours , It takes it down a grade but looks like a coin again. Roll it around in a small bag of pennies and let it retone by putting it in a closed mason jar with some oak shavings in the sun for 6-12 months.

Let's say it was an XF45 and harsly cleaned and ugly and you end up with a natural looking VF 30. Guess which one looks better.

The downside of this play is you lose lustre that normally clings to the edges of the devices and lettering. No one really expects much of a 20-30 coin anyhow though.

I've used this process with coins I've found corroded in dirt and asphalt and so forth. The best eyes can't tell what happened because all you've really done is accelerate normal wear and tear, the same thing that happens to a coin in pocket and cash registers and so on.

Of course, people curse any kind of tampering but... it's your coin.

All sort of depends on the amount of so called harsh cleaning. If done with a wire wheel or similar, naturally many scratches that just don't easily go away. However, if cleaned with harsh cleaners such as jewlery cleaners, auto polishes, Lemon Juices and all other sorts of substances, might not all be lost. Again, depends on just how much cleaning was done.
For many years now I've purposely purchased coins that were either cleaned excessively or actually polished. I've done experiments with Laquer thinners, Acetone, Alcohols, mud, spit and almost anything else to see if possible to return a little to normal. Eventually my end results are to put on a kitchen window sill and allow to sit there for weeks or even months.
Copper coins do best at sort of returning to a normal looking coin. Indian Head Nickels just do not appear to ever come back. Silver coins do look better but takes a long, long time. Presently now have several Cents on a window sill for a few weeks now. Hopefully they will all come out OK since one is a 1909S Lincoln Cent.

You can't see the wear on the rim unless the edge is reeded. It's just not enough missing material to be noticed. If the edge is reeded it dulls the reeds, but it uniformly deepens them as well. Recall we're talking about grit with the fineness of corn starch, it gets everywhere. Could you tell the difference between a pair of coins worn normally worn in the tumbler? Maybe. I can't always in double blinds.

Tumblers are random, no machine like marks to see and no metal stress from uneven heating visible under a microscope.

I'm not recommending this method to anyone, I'm just relaying what happens when it's used.

Yes, and I'm the cloud.



Seriously, you have to consider the potential loss in value if the coin in question has any real worth. I can't recommend the rock tumbler method in good faith, simply because of lack of personal experience, but I trust Ugly not to mislead. Depending on the nature of the cleaning (if you were surprised by the result, it probably wasn't very harsh), turning it into a pocket piece for a while is probably the better method.

Ive heard people use floor polish to remove minor scratches from models - it'll be shiny, but could work well and can be stripped off if it fails.