Posted 06/21/2011 1:46 pm
Start by NOT cleaning any of them, not one wipe! 
The urge is overwhelming sometimes, but I can't stress enough that the damage done will be irreversible. Your collection looks perfectly fine as they are. Wiping with a damp rag will leave hairline marks on the surface.
Now some specifics. This section (Morgan and Peace dollar VAMs) is to discuss and identify the catalogued die pairs for the two series. Each die imparts its uniqueness on the coins it strikes. These were damaged, modified, and re-engraved throughout their lives. Significant changes earn a separate catalogue number. Remember every Morgan and Peace dollar is a VAM. VAM does not refer to an individual diagnostic of the die pair (i.e., broken star point), but refers to the obv and rev pairing. The complete list by date and mintmark can be found at VAMWorld.com.
Also note that 95% of VAMs don't carry a premium. But some of those 5% sell for moon money.
To identify which die pairings ( VAM) your coins are, we would need much larger photos of the obv and rev of each coin. It a pain sometimes, but who knows ... you may have a treasure in that group.
The urge is overwhelming sometimes, but I can't stress enough that the damage done will be irreversible. Your collection looks perfectly fine as they are. Wiping with a damp rag will leave hairline marks on the surface.
Now some specifics. This section (Morgan and Peace dollar VAMs) is to discuss and identify the catalogued die pairs for the two series. Each die imparts its uniqueness on the coins it strikes. These were damaged, modified, and re-engraved throughout their lives. Significant changes earn a separate catalogue number. Remember every Morgan and Peace dollar is a VAM. VAM does not refer to an individual diagnostic of the die pair (i.e., broken star point), but refers to the obv and rev pairing. The complete list by date and mintmark can be found at VAMWorld.com.
Also note that 95% of VAMs don't carry a premium. But some of those 5% sell for moon money.
To identify which die pairings ( VAM) your coins are, we would need much larger photos of the obv and rev of each coin. It a pain sometimes, but who knows ... you may have a treasure in that group.
To the forum! Glad to see you here and your questions...Definitely NO CLEANING!!Cleaning or enhancing will only lower its value, If its a melt only coin "it is what it is"...if its a decent coin which you appear to have a few, you could loose half of its value and be back to MELT values...That hurts... You seem to have quite a few with nice luster which is good, AU maybe MS coins...Post some picks when you can all will be glad to help you,,IT IS ALOT OF FUN TOO!!
to keep things in order please don't post 52 coin pics at once Star with about 5 coins to get a feel of what you have without sensory over load...
