Best Way To Clean Old Coins!

[Tinky1878]

DON'T!!!!!!

Do not, I repeat, do not clean coins you suspect are valuable. If you clean a coin that is valuable, you can cut the value in half! If you do not know if a coin is valuable or not, ask me or post it on the forum.

For a valuable coin, you would want to have it professionally cleaned.

For a common coin, such as a most wheat cents or Mercury dimes, you can clean them at home. You do not want to use anything too abrasive and you do not want to polish the coin. Abrasives WILL scratch your coins, thus devaluing them. Polished coins are the same.

I hope this answers some cleaning questions!

[RickO]

Tinky is 100% correct!! Old crud can be removed by an olive oil soak (takes a long time) or an acetone soak (high grade). Both should be followed by a warm water rinse and blow dry.. never rub or polish the coin. RickO

[TN Ninja Digger]

Originally Posted by RickO

Tinky is 100% correct!! Old crud can be removed by an olive oil soak (takes a long time) or an acetone soak (high grade). Both should be followed by a warm water rinse and blow dry.. never rub or polish the coin. RickO

Olive Oil like what the wife cooks with? how long is takes a long time?

[~Alan~]

Good advice.
If a coin could be valuable, do nothing with it at all. Apart from keeping it dry.

[Lou-CT]

I tried the olive oil method. Now I clean my coins with soap, water and a toothbrush. Then I put on a coating of Brass Wax. The Brass Wax is an acrylic that gives it a semigloss protective coating which can be removed with ammonia.