Myers Depot Metal Detectors

How I ruined my first wheat penny with vinegar cleaning

spetsnaz83

spetsnaz83

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Jun 22, 2010
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Found my first wheat penny yesterday on a hiking trail, which was a 1934 and surprisingly in pretty good shape despite being in the ground for decades. I know it was there for a while since it was about 7 inches deep and under a whole pile of decent size rocks which took me about 15 minutes to get through. The date could be seen pretty clearly but the coin was darkened and had some greenish color around the edges (patina?). I knew it wasn't a rare coin or anything so I figured there is no harm in trying to brighten it up and make it look nicer. So I scouted the internet for the most popular penny cleaning methods, and saw that immersing it into vinegar/salt solution did a pretty good job on the coin for those who have used it. After about 10 minutes in the solution I could see that the crud started to come off, so I figured it is working. But after I took it out and thoroughly rinsed it under running water I realized that the entire surface of the coin was eroded away (see pics) and now you can hardly tell that its a penny much less what year it is :( I tried cleaning it with some baking soda as suggested, but that did absolutely nothing. Even though it was not a rare coin, I'm still pretty disappointed. As per the below link the coins treated with such method should come out fairly nice looking, and mine came out looking nothing like it.

http://www.pennycollector.com/tips_clean.html

Should this method not be used for cleaning up dug coins? Did I do something wrong? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 

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I think maybe the vinegar/salt was too strong, or you left it in too long. Next time, I would suggest just soaking it in olive oil for a few days and using a wooden toothpick to loosen any crud that softens up. Then a nice wash with a mild hand soap and pat to dry. Good Luck finding your next wheatie. : )
 
Live and learn... I'd say they're a dime a dozen, but the copper value actually makes them about 3 dimes a dozen. Oh well. :(
 
Thanks All, I tried the same method on regular circulated pennies that have not been in the ground and the vinegar cleaning method actually works without damage, which leads me to conclude that the coins surface might have changed chemically from a long time in the ground and once unearthed will react differently to vinegar cleaning method. Oh well, I guess sometimes its just better to leave it alone as is.
 
Yep keep the salt and vinegar for French fries.

You made a mistake even before you cleaned your coin, and that was thinking the after shots on that website are better... and they are definitely not. That person cleaned a coin that didn't even need cleaning so that's a pretty good hint not to take their advice. Furthermore, a dug coin can certainly be much different to deal with.

You should be happy that happened because it's the sacrifice that will most likely save the first really good copper you dig. Just use this as a lesson and don't try another crazy method you read online when you dig the next coin, and there will be MANY more.

PS.. I have a friend who detected for many years and had a couple of hundred various early large coppers. Someone suggested to him to try cleaning one of his coins with salt and vinegar, which he did, and he actually got a decent result on that particular coin. So what did he do, he soaked all 200 coins destroying them, and to my knowledge has never detected again. 100% true story.
 
Been there, done that. I ruined a nice 29 wheatie just like you did yours. After I pulled it out of the vinegar it was toast. I won't do that again. I guess we had to learn the hard way.
 
I use a cup I will never use to drink out of and heat up some peroxide in the microwave and drop the penny in it. After soaking it for about and hour and then light brushing with a soft toothbrush it does a great job getting off the crud without ruining the coin.
 
all salt and vinegar ever did for my wheaties was make them look clean for a few minutes while they were wet and then turn them green once they dry. if they are just common date wheaties i use "bar keepers friend" and that works well cleaning coppers
 
dglantz said:
I use a cup I will never use to drink out of and heat up some peroxide in the microwave and drop the penny in it. After soaking it for about and hour and then light brushing with a soft toothbrush it does a great job getting off the crud without ruining the coin.
Click to expand...

Don't do that on nickels. They will turn black from the peroxide.

G.
 
cleaning

Thanks guys for the tips on this, it looks like when you find something in the ground that's old, use the least abrasive method and leave as IS!!! I guess we need to realize that it won't come back as mint condition being in the ground for 50-100 years. Great posts.

Do you guys use rock tumblers?

PS When I find recent dimes they are usually looking like pennies in color? Any suggestions on dimes?
 
demyansk1942 said:
Do you guys use rock tumblers?

PS When I find recent dimes they are usually looking like pennies in color? Any suggestions on dimes?
Click to expand...

Yep, I own a tumbler too. I hunt mostly deep silver so I don't accumulate large quantities quickly to have to clean. When I do clean them I use a spaghetti sauce jar with dishwasher powder and water. Shake it up and let it set for 2 or 3 days. Rinse the coins and then dump them in my bank's coin counter. The counter could care less if the are pretty or not.

Dimes and quarters coming out of the ground dark is because of the copper-nickel coating starting to corrode. If you plan on actually spending your finds then I suggest a tumbler and wait until you have enough that it's worth wasting electricity on. Tumbling a dollars worth of dimes and quarters is a waste of trons. If you just plan on dumping, see my above comment about counters and what coins look like. I don't carry and spend change so I dump it in a margarine bucket when I get home daily and dump it at the same time as modern coin finds. The wife does the same thing. Too much hassle digging for exact change.
 
Put some vegetable oil on it, might salvage it some. Just a drop on each side, rub it in, and wipe it off like car wax.

I use soap and water and a toothbrush. If it is not a key date, I will use baking soda to remove all the grime. I need to try toothpaste.
 
cleaning with base not acid...may help

A trick I learned from helping out in relic labs, on old coins that you want to see the dates / info a bit clearer (this will not "restore" the coin) use colgate regular toothpaste and a soft brush (toothbrush). Rub the paste, let it stand a few minutes and brush off, rinse with distilled water (or filtered) just so long as the water does not contain a high amount of acid or chlorine. I hope this helps.:D:D
 
I got out the small microscope handheld and lots of green stuff on my 1926 penny. I really dont think I can do much with it. I used baking soda and toothpaste
 
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