How I cleaned this steel penny...

That war penny looks amazing!!!

Make sure you get all the acid off. I would neutralize it with baking soda solution.


Yep. Copper and steel...two completely different metal types.

I think the steel ones are coated in zinc, but it does look like the iron in the steel is leaching through the zinc and leaving rust on the outside. From my experiments with Zincolns with holes in the copper plating, zinc reacts very strongly with lemon juice.

I think the results depend on microscopic pits and cracks that are probably all over IHs and old wheats.

I still think that tumbling is the way to go on restoring old wheats that are pitted, because it wears off a small layer of the coin fairly uniformly, like circulation, and maybe it even fills in the holes with ground up copper?
 
I tried the lovely lemon juice and salt method. Though I didnt let it soak as long. Just enough to loosen the dirt. Then I took an eraser and just buffed it out with that. beautiful pennies.

I got them from my bf. We went to a nice little antique store and I saw this jar full of steel pennies. OMG. Tons of em. Well I didnt buy em at that time. I came home to that same jar sitting on my desk last night. 672 steel pennies. lol.

im cleaning some of the better ones.

Just thought id give you all some idea on getting the beautiful shine I have on mine.
 
Back in the 1970s I came across 3 small jars of steel pennies, they were buried in some boxes that I bought at an auction that I had gone to with my dad.

The pennies were all immersed in oil. I never took them out and to this day they are still sitting in what smells like motor oil. I'm not sure if the method of storage destroyed the value but I have to say they have endured sitting in basements and garages for the past 40 years and look the same as the day I found them. I just came across the jars this past weekend so it brought back some good memories.

Anyone else heard of oil being used to stop them from rusting?
 
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