never clean coins

copperdigger

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Nov 30, 2017
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6
Location
upstate NY
You might be tempted to clean your coins when you find them, but I would say no. Cleaning coins can cause much damage to coins, and the only reason to clean clad coins, and zinc cents is if you want to bring them to the bank.
The only way you should clean silver coins, is maybe with a toothpick.
 
You might be tempted to clean your coins when you find them, but I would say no. Cleaning coins can cause much damage to coins, and the only reason to clean clad coins, and zinc cents is if you want to bring them to the bank.
The only way you should clean silver coins, is maybe with a toothpick.

i would say clean them - what does it hurt! except to have clean looking coins.
face it - a coin you find in the ground after 5,10, 15 years aint gonna be worth much.
I like to look at clean coins not all dirty and gunky looking ones!!
and as you stated the bank will only accept clean coins - unless you try to sneak them into rolls. but i would think they would be able to tell - IMO

i agree with you about silver coins - water only.
 
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I'm not selling the silver I dig, and the Rosies and other coins from around that time aren't worth more than melt anyway. I would agree not to clean copper coins though. They just look so much better uncleaned.
 
Can you define 'clean'? Rinsing under tap water is cleaning. I can't stick a nice Walker in a 2x2 coated with dirt. Leaving dirt or sand on a nice silver coin is going to scratch it up. Most finds are common coins, silver or not, most silver worth melt value. I agree about coppers though, no peroxide and olive oil a BIG no-no.
 
I will clean dug silvers if they have uneven tarnish. I rinse off any dirt first, then wash my hands well. Put a little baking soda (marble-size) in the palm of my hand , add water until it's a milky liquid. Put the coin in the liquid, rub lightly with the ball of my thumb until the tarnish is off the high points. If not done too aggressively, this will make the coin look a lot better, IMO.
 
tumbling clad

Most of the modern clad comes out of the ground are really tarnished and stained here ,i see no harm in throwing them in the tumbler and cleaning them up so they are spendable. After tumbling i have even had a few supprises of dimes i thought were pennies , or foreign coins.This year i have just been bagging it up by denomination and country to keep track of how much i have found. Will probably start holding on to it for awhile , maybe fill a small treasure chest with it. None of this is worth more than face value so i see no harm in getting it fairly shinny. Had a pretty decent year here on clad , was doing a lot of lunch hour hunts all year at a close park. Just retired last month so expect a lot more hunting time next year and a lot more coins to fill the treasure chest. Detecting season is coming to a end here for the season.
 
A dug silver coin isn't really going to be worth anymore than melt value unless it's a key or semi-key date. If you like them shiny like I do then clean away. If you like ugly tarnished silver then enjoy it. Do what you like.

I think you are thinking about normal collectible circulated silver not to clean. Dug silver doesn't matter.
 
I clean all of my dug silver. Of course, I always check first if it's a key date. I also toothpick the date area of the wheats and IHPs I dig to see if they're key dates. I have yet to find a key date coin! Here's a before and after of a war nickel I dug not too long ago. I prefer the look in the second pic when flipping through my coin album.:)

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I used to be a stickler on not cleaning coins as well, but I can see the point some folks have about having your finds at least be legible. Unless they have collector value (most dug coins don't), I don't think cleaning is a HUGE sin. Of course, care should be taken to be as gentle with the coins as possible... a cotton cloth, or a toothpick like you said... I would never polish my coins with a rotary tool, for example.

Make sure you're comfortable cleaning something, though, before you do it. The results may be less than you hope for. I tried "cleaning" my Edison photograph piece (pot metal) with some steel wool and the result is that the copper in it has "greened", making it look worse than before. :(
 
Once you found it, its your coin to do with it whatever you want...Clean it, dont clean it..its all up to your intended purpose....

If you sell your finds and want to pull full value, pay for the grading, professional cleaning, and pop it up on an auction house for a percentage...then OK, you probably should not attempt to clean it...Otherwise, do what you want...its your coin!

Dont be stupid though.....research what you got before hand to make the right decision..We all watch Antiques Roadshow and learned when cleaning something rare and old can be a very bad deal for a person intent on selling.......
 
If it's a collectable coin, soap, water and a soft rag to dry or air dry. If its rare and valuable, let a pro clean it. If it's clad or silver junk coins worth only melt value.. .do whatever you want! A collectable coin may have been in the ground, but the difference in value from a little more or less wear and/or scratches can be quite a bit.
 
I always clean my clad because I usually end up cashing it in at one point to buy something metal detecting related or to take my wife out to dinner. Why have a bunch of dirty clad laying around ? I found a semi-key date silver coin that I thought was in good enough shape to sell so I did not clean it other than to run some water over it to get the dirt off. I took it to a coin expert and he took one look at it and accused me of cleaning it. I explained what I had done and he asked me how I acquired it. I told him that I found it while metal detecting and he was quick to tell me that the value of a dug coin is extremely less than one in good condition. I ended up selling it to an individual that was a collector but for far less than what I would have thought (originally) that it might have been worth. Oh well, $80 for a dime ain't half bad considering. I doubt that cleaning that coin would have made a big difference in what I received for it. Do what you want to your coin especially if you are going to keep it and not sell it. More than likely you will not depreciate it more than it already is from being dug.
 
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