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Is there a right way to clean an old coin?
MLBdays
Posts: 1,359 ✭✭✭✭✭
I'm not a coin guy.....obviously.... what might you recommend doing with this?...... leave it alone?
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MLBdays
Posts: 1,359 ✭✭✭✭✭
MLBdays
Posts: 1,359 ✭✭✭✭✭
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As far as cleaning that coin, someone beat you to it.
That one is far enough along that it probably can’t be improved. As to the generic question... It all depends on the problem. The best way to identify the cleaning options is to determine what you’re trying to fix. Some things can be fixed and are totally safe and some things can be improved but have their own side effects.
Generally speaking pure acetone is safe on gold and silver and can remove some surface contaminants that are connected to the coin. MS70 judiciously applied may help with some spotting but may also leave its own mark. An uncirculated coin with a lot of luster but some unattractive toning can be dipped with something like EZ-est if done correctly (dipped quickly, rinsed off, etc.) and can improve the coin. It may also hurt the luster or make the coin look unnatural.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
obverse and reverse pictures would be best in case you have a better-date mint mark coin. you could possibly have a nice coin on your hands but the picture just doesn't get us where we need to go.
if you have acetone, may want to try to get the green stuff off (if it is what i think it is). make sure you use it in a well ventilated area and rinse with water thoroughly. don't use anything else if you aren't familiar and don't store it long-term in a really flexible clear coin flip (the ones with cardboard are usually ok though) as they tend to have PVC which is very bad for coins.
Well if there's an S on the back then the only choice is to send it to professionals.
Otherwise acetone or MS70 as mentioned above.
Collector, occasional seller
My motto is “you can always clean it. You can not unclean it”. Leave it alone.
Don't clean coins.
Dave
Line up 3 ea. 1 cup Pyrex containers. Put 1/2 cup of distilled water in the first, 1/2 cup of pure acetone, not fingernail polish remover, Another 1/2 cup distilled water in the last Pyrex container.
Put on new white cotton gloves. Pick up the raw coin, by the edges only, and hold the coin vertically with the obverse facing the outside of the 1st container with 4 inches between the coin and the outside of the container. Hold in this position for 15 seconds. Move the coin to the same position outside the container with acetone. Hold in this position for 15 seconds. Do the same for the final container holding distilled water and hold for 15 seconds.
Return the coin to it's original, hopefully PVC free, holder or other non reactive material holder.
## OR....
Leave the coin in its holder, un-cleaned, in the same condition as received. This is the preferred method.
Cleaning coins is a mistake 99% of the time. If you don't already know when it's OK, it's probably a mistake 100% of the time.
I wouldn't use cotton gloves in water or acetone. They'll only soak it up and do nothing to protect you or the coin. If you think you need to use gloves, use powder-free nitrile ones.
I'd leave it alone. Years ago I bought a roll of cleaned Columbian halves that had been polished. I let them sit in the hot sun on the gate at the ranch and occasionally turned them over and they sat for about 5 years. Eventually the 100' temps, rain, air pollution etc darkened them and I recovered them and put them back in the hoard.
Being inexperienced, the only thing I would suggest is a pure acetone soak and hot water rinse... do not rub or wipe the coin... blow dry gently..... Keep your fingers off the obverse/reverse, handle only by the edges. Good luck, Cheers, RickO
No. There is a right way to restore it and a right way to conserve it. There's a right way to doctor it and a right way to stack it. There will never be a right way to clean 'em.
I think I need to clarify my tongue-in-cheek bad cleaning post. What I was trying to say, badly it turns out, was to hold the coin outside the containers, not dipping the coin into the containers. I at first thought to say "make sure the coin gets a good look at the solutions with out actually taking the the horror show, to a coin, of swimming in the nasty contents" My apologies.
To @ricko - you forgot the pencil eraser on the stubborn spots.
@Kudbegud... I did understand your post the first time....and yes, the pencil eraser was an oversight
Cheers, RickO