Soaking coin in white vinegar?

FortMyersDrew · July 19, 2007 10:37PM

I have heard of soaking your real dirty and grimy coins in white vinegar is this good, bad or neither?

drwstr123 · July 19, 2007 11:00PM

You'll regret it.

AU58WALKERS · July 19, 2007 11:00PM

acid on a coin is not a good idea

FortMyersDrew · July 19, 2007 11:08PM

i just heard it was a way to clean coins i havent tried it myself

tincup · July 19, 2007 11:14PM

White vinegar is an acid. Acids react with metals.

The vinegar will definitely clean the coin.... and eat away the metal while it is doing so. Don't do it unless it is a totally worthless coin beyond any salvage otherwise and you just want to see what the result will be....

FortMyersDrew · July 19, 2007 11:16PM

is there any way you can post a picture so i can see what it looks like for future reference

ricko · July 19, 2007 11:20PM

It looks finely, and evenly pitted.... use of white vinegar needs to be done carefully. A quick wash - no more than a few minutes - will remove the 'removable' crud. Cheers, RickO

ArgentumRex · July 19, 2007 11:22PM

<< is there any way you can post a picture so i can see what it looks like for future reference >>

FortMyersDrew · July 19, 2007 11:23PM

so if you do it for a few minutes it will be fine?

drwstr123 · July 19, 2007 11:25PM

Not copper!

FortMyersDrew · July 19, 2007 11:28PM

ok someone help me out i metal detect and i find dirty grimy coins what would be the ezest way to clean coins? soak them in water?

Shamika · July 19, 2007 11:29PM

<< ArgentumRex - That was a good one.

mozeppa · July 19, 2007 11:43PM

heinz white vinegar!?!?

your coins will flip flop all over the place...

not to mention your coins will make you feel like you're not able to make your own decisions
in your collecting life and should have a government program or consortium over seeing your collecting life!

down with vinegar!!!

FortMyersDrew · July 19, 2007 11:43PM

HAHA OK DOWN WITH VINEGAR!!!

What about water though?

eyoung429 · July 19, 2007 11:43PM

<< ok someone help me out i metal detect and i find dirty grimy coins what would be the ezest way to clean coins? soak them in water? >>

Get yourself some potatoes for any copper you find....

Just cut a slice into the spud and insert coin....does a great job!!!

tincup · July 19, 2007 11:45PM

<< ok someone help me out i metal detect and i find dirty grimy coins what would be the ezest way to clean coins? soak them in water? >>

Soaking in olive oil or mineral oil is an accepted method of loosening and removing old deposits from coins that have been in the ground. However, that can take a LOT of time... to be effective.

Can you post a picture or two of the typical coins that you want to clean? Perhaps when others can see the nature of the coins, they may be able to give better specific info. Perhaps the vinegar method may be acceptable.... if a more aggressive approach is needed. But until each coin is properly evaluated as to the type of deposits, and value of the coin, etc.... it is difficult to determine exactly how to try to clean it, if at all....

FortMyersDrew · July 19, 2007 11:53PM

here is some of the coins

AUandAG · July 20, 2007 12:31AM

I used to metal detect for old coins and I found that unless they are very rare there's not much bad you can
do to them. They are ruined from being in the ground for so long anyway. Play away and have fun with the
hobby and then put them in your junk drawer where they belong. I'm speaking of copper and silver. Never
found any gold so can't attest to that.
bob

kryptonitecomics · July 20, 2007 12:32AM

Those coins look fine...if you clean them it would be a real shame becuase they actually still look collectible and usually dug coins have a lot of issues.....my advice....leave them alone if you want them to still have value above melt

FortMyersDrew · July 20, 2007 12:38AM

alright thanks

kryptonitecomics · July 20, 2007 12:45AM

By the way I grew up in Fort Myers

7Jaguars · July 20, 2007 1:17AM

White vinegar can be useful but as far as cleaning, one should start with warm water and mild soap. Ammonia soaks can be tried next and are often omitted in recommendations not often cited. Alcohol, and acetone would be good choices next. Vinegar for short exposure (xpt on copper) should NOT do harm. It is a relatively mild acid and somewhat similar to lemon juice. I would not leave it for long periods of time and would check about every 5 minutes as a rule. I would rinse liberally with water afterward and tamp dry with clean white cotton towel.

These are general guidelines and each coin is its own, so to speak....

FortMyersDrew · July 20, 2007 1:19AM

thanks alot you all are major help to me starting off. and Fort Myers Hmm good place lol where ya live now? and as for the ways to clean it water, vinegar, alchohol etc thanks i will take this in consideration and i will learn of the course of my collecting and finding

tahoe98 · July 20, 2007 3:54AM

<< 

<< is there any way you can post a picture so i can see what it looks like for future reference >>

>>

vaq45 · July 20, 2007 3:58AM

Pickel juice??

mcheath · July 20, 2007 4:00AM

Ive used vinegar to "nic-a-date" buffalo nickels. They were pitted and worthless after i was done, but i knew that going in. It was fun though. I ended up with a 23-s.

StrikeOutXXX · July 20, 2007 4:18AM

Those walkers look pretty good the way they are, I wouldn't do much else with them.

I metal detect too, and like someone above said, most of the finds belong in a junk drawer. Now and then you'll find a nice silver coin that can pass as a coin collection piece instead of a metal detecting find. Be careful when you run across those.

For corroded things where cleaning is more to identify and make it somewhat presentable, I have two favorite methods. These two are the only ones I'd try for an item I'm pretty sure is a coin though.

1) Put a little hydrogen peroxide in a glass dish/container in the microwave until it starts to boil (little bowl for me is about 30 seconds or so). Remove the container and put your copper coin or button/whatever in there. It does a great job of removing crust and crud. (Works pretty well with green indian head cents).

2) Mostly with silver items, is a glass container lined with tin-foil. Pour in boiling water and add some Arm & Hammer washing soda and add the coin/item. It too removes grime and gunk. We're talking things you can barely identify here though, nothing like your walkers.

There are dozens of methods thrown around on metal detecting forums and webpages - I have tried vinegar with some salt (on old keys once), ketsup, CLR, you name it. These are great for rusty blobs of stuff or unidentifiable things that came out of the ground, but I wouldn't try any of these on coins though.

Dennis88 · July 20, 2007 4:20AM

Olive oil will work on some old copper coins, but one word is very important: patience

FortMyersDrew · July 20, 2007 4:20AM

heres a picture

tr8cer · July 21, 2007 10:07AM

They look great the way they are. If you're concerned there may be PVC damage soak them in acetone.

Here's a good thread.

acetone

Soaking coin in white vinegar?

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