Poll - Have you ever cleaned a coin?

TopographicOceans

I've dipped modern proofs before submitting to PCGS, but I've never cleaned a "real" coin.

lasvegasteddy

as a young kid in the 60's
erasers sure made my pennies shine in the album
and wow was it cool to have baseball cards on my royce union bicycle flapping in my spokes...

ernie11

I did the same thing as lasvegasteddy when I was a kid. Thankfully none of those coins were really scarce - probably the worst example was cleaning an 1854 Seated Liberty Half XF that I inherited from my grandfather. I look at the coin today and still see the erasure marks.

Type2

You need to know when not to. Every one can but some times they just need to leave them alone. So i guess YES for most here.

PerryHall

What constitutes cleaning? Is cleaning off PVC residue with acetone cleaning? Is dipping a coin to remove really ugly toning cleaning? Do the conservation services at PCGS and NGC clean coins? Is cleaning a coin always bad?

GrumpyEd

I remember polishing my cents with an eraser like Teddy.
I guess it was around 1970 and they were mostly common wheat cents but I did polish a 31-S, it re-toned but still looks glossy LOL!

Cameonut

<< <i>as a young kid in the 60's
erasers sure made my pennies shine in the album
and wow was it cool to have baseball cards on my royce union bicycle flapping in my spokes... >>



Same here! Except my bike was a Schwinn...

CoinZip

<< <i>Have you ever cleaned a coin? >>



Every time I do laundry........

astrorat

<< <i>

<< <i>Have you ever cleaned a coin? >>



Every time I do laundry........ >>

Ah ... we can add money laundering to your list of skills?

erwindoc

I had a proof coin that I had put a fingerprint in the fields when I was a kid. I thought Id just wipe it off. I quickly realized that I caused way more damage wiping it than accidentally touching it.

Patches

I was about 7 years old, and my Dad gave me my first "cool" coin. It was an Indian Cent from 1907, and it sure was dirty and ugly. I abraided back and forth, bot sides, on the carpet for a real long time. It was now the brightest coin I had ever seen. I thought I would take it down to the local coin shop since it was now ready for sale...and see if I could trade it for something better. I had no idea what it meant at the time, but the coin store owner laughed at it and said..."gee, that's more shiny then the day that left the mint". I think I probably got a dime from him for it, I left a happy kid since I gave him a penny for that dime!

TwoSides2aCoin

yeah… I did … thankfully they were never candidates for the rich and famous collections. The errors of youth.

Mission16

Just palmolive and warm water to get "dirt" dirt off.

Sometimes an acetone dip spotty SAE's



And sometimes I forget to empty my packets before I put clothes in the wash.

OldEastside

<< <i>as a young kid in the 60's
erasers sure made my pennies shine in the album
and wow was it cool to have baseball cards on my royce union bicycle flapping in my spokes... >>



I'll admit to this too, also when my Dad wasn't home friends and I took common pennys to his
grinder & wire wheel, (they shined up real good) and I recall using Lou Alcindor rookie cards from
Topps when he was with the Milwaukee Bucks as bicycle spoke engines

Steve

silverpop

only if I think the gunk or whatever is on the coin will damage the coin worse then it already is

PerryHall

<< <i>only if I think the gunk or whatever is on the coin will damage the coin worse then it already is >>



Good answer. Sometimes you have to clean a coin to save a coin. PVC residue is a perfect example.

ms70

I voted yes because it's true, I did. But it was when I was a kid collector, so I don't know if that actually counts.

MGLICKER

Long time ago. Helped my dad clean a bunch of Morgan dollars with silver polish. 1962 or so.

410a

I took a burnished and retoned bust quarter that I bought here on the forum and set it in lemon juice from a fresh lemon. It came out nice, but the burnishing cloth left it's traces so a toning was in order. I sold it at a loss.

IrishMikey

Yes. We all have.

ebaybuyer

ive dipped coins, stripped off all their original tarnish so I could get a TPG to call them market acceptable, does that count ?

ricko

Like many others, the eraser to cents when I was a kid..... Cheers, RickO

PipestonePete

Back in 1968 I cleaned up one of my dad's coins. This Columbian half-dollar had been in his family for many years. No one in their family collected coins but someone must have decided that this was worth holding on to. The coin was dark so I took some Comet cleanser and a toothbrush and cleaned it up (along with some silver dollars that some aunts and uncles had given to me and my sisters). I take responsibility for the cleaning but not the hammered edges.

OPA

If you consider dipping to remove black ugly tarnish, cleaning..yes.

TwoSides2aCoin

If you consider being so poor that rubbing two nickels together is cleaning , yes… very abrasively

MFH

Back in 1963 while in High School, I decided that this 1892 Half had too much tarnish -
I had heard that a very mild solution of Baking Soda and water - making a very weak
slurry and I dropped the coin in the palm of my hand - and used my finger to swirl the
mix over both sides. I applied hardly any pressure and immediately rinsed the coin under
the tap and continued to rinse the coin for quite awhile.

I blotted the coin with cotton balls - and then air dried it. I placed it in a hard flip for an
additional forty years - and then into a Dansco Type Album for 5 years.

TommyType

Kind of surprised the "No" vote is as high as it is....

The temptation is just too great! Particularly when you're new to collecting, and you don't quite understand the barriers and dangers....

I dipped a couple of coins early on, and tried to "improve" a beat up crusty large cent or two. Nothing of great value or significance, however. But, while I didn't "ruin" them, I can't say I improved them either.

The lesson learned for me was: "Don't bother", and I haven't tried since. Don't even own any dip anymore. Now, if I don't like them, I don't buy them. Removes the temptation completely....

Shamika

Never have.

AngryTurtle

<< <i>

<< <i>only if I think the gunk or whatever is on the coin will damage the coin worse then it already is >>



Good answer. Sometimes you have to clean a coin to save a coin. PVC residue is a perfect example. >>



If you used Acetone, thats not cleaning in the numismatic definition of the word.

AngryTurtle

<< <i>I've dipped modern proofs before submitting to PCGS, but I've never cleaned a "real" coin. >>



Not sure I understand the distinction here, so did you answer yes or no to the poll?

BLUEJAYWAY

Yes, as kids we dipped the wheaties in the copper cleaner container. Think the product was called "Twinkle" or some such name. Never tried the silver cleaner.

jdillane

Youthful indiscretion with an eraser. Hapa Haneri penny too. Ugh. Oh and I tarn-x'd some morgan dollars. (Truth be told they looked quite nice 40 yrs later.)

johnny9434

yes at one time or another we all have. just saying

ambro51

Yes....and funny thing ever since I've kept getting older. Is cleaning the coin what's doing it? Where are my Shoes?

OldIndianNutKase

When I srarted collecting over 50 years ago I only collected what I found in circulation. All of my collections were circulated coinager except for the bank rolls of uncirculated coinage that I still have to this day. For me collecting was much more akin to hunting and filling holes than searching out high quality specimens. All of my Lincolns ere brown if old and red if new. And I still have my old collectioons that have never been cleaned.

I no longer hunt coins out of circulation. I hunt for them through dealers and auctions and mostly collect proof varieties. I have never cracked one out and cleaned it and as a collector do not see the point. My IHC proof collection has high grades, low grades and no grades. Even the ones that did were Genuine are very pretty and I would not be able to improve upon them, perhaps because someone already did to an excess.

I think that dealers are more like to answer this question in the affirmative.

OINK

ArizonaJack

Of course. Helps to teach what cleaned coins look like.

ProofArtworkonCircs

I followed the Whitman books of old recipe and made a paste of baking soda to clean my silver coins. That included the nucleus of a fairly respectable Morgan dollar set. My Peace dollars didn't need cleaning.

TopographicOceans

<< <i>Kind of surprised the "No" vote is as high as it is.... >>



See the other thread Do you lie on polls?

ARCO

I used to rub the oils off of my proof quarters with a soft cloth when I was 11 or 12. Oddly, my proofs began to look cloudy and hairlined.

ambro51

My earliest cleaning adventures involved peering up onto the ledge of the kitchen Sink and braceing a coin against its lip while I furiously scrubbed with a Brillo pad!.