cleaning pennies

[Nikki S.]

Hello, I have just started collecting old pennies and I watched a video and did what the person in the video did, but I then I read the comments and realized that I cleaned them wrong. how do I clean pennies the right way?

[Just Bob]

Welcome to the forum.

Most collectors advise against cleaning of any kind, but sometimes a coin has something on it that will harm the surface if left on the coin. If it is something detrimental, it should only be cleaned by soaking in distilled water, or if that isn't sufficient, some mineral oil or olive oil. The goal is to loosen the dirt and allow it to be flushed off the surface. At no time should abrasive substances or hard rubbing be employed. A coin's surface will show scratches surprisingly easily, and scratches will cause the value to drop like a rock.

If you are only trying to remove old toning (tarnish) or brighten the color, be advised that knowledgeable collectors will reject most any coin that does not appear to have its original finish.

 

[Conder101]

If you are just trying to remove DIRT, a good soak and rinse in distilled water should do the trick. 

If there is oily or tougher crud on the coin then a soak in Xylol (Xylene), methylethylketone (MEK) or acetone followed by a FLOWING rinse with pure acetone.  In any of these uses DO NOT RUB the coin.  At most SWISH the coin back and forth in the solvent.  After the flowing acetone rinse you do not have to dry the coin, the acetone will evaporate off in just a few seconds.  (I like to use the acetone rinse after a distilled water soak as well, the acetone dissolves the water traces off the coin and carries it off when it evaporates so you don't have to dry the coin.)

If you are trying to remove tarnish, toning, or other discoloration, forget it it.  In general it can't be done without the end result looking very unnatural and undesirable.

[KarenHolcomb]

14 hours ago, Conder101 said:

If you are just trying to remove DIRT, a good soak and rinse in distilled water should do the trick. 

If there is oily or tougher crud on the coin then a soak in Xylol (Xylene), methylethylketone (MEK) or acetone followed by a FLOWING rinse with pure acetone.  In any of these uses DO NOT RUB the coin.  At most SWISH the coin back and forth in the solvent.  After the flowing acetone rinse you do not have to dry the coin, the acetone will evaporate off in just a few seconds.  (I like to use the acetone rinse after a distilled water soak as well, the acetone dissolves the water traces off the coin and carries it off when it evaporates so you don't have to dry the coin.)

If you are trying to remove tarnish, toning, or other discoloration, forget it it.  In general it can't be done without the end result looking very unnatural and undesirable.

Hey Condor, what about hardened sticky tape glue? 

So the acetone doesn't damage the coin or make them looked cleaned? And you're talking about like fingernail polish remover, right?

[JKK]

10 minutes ago, KarenHolcomb said:

Hey Condor, what about hardened sticky tape glue? 

So the acetone doesn't damage the coin or make them looked cleaned? And you're talking about like fingernail polish remover, right?

You'd want to use real acetone, though, the kind that comes in a metal can at Home Despot or Blowe's. The nail polish remover could contain other stuff you wouldn't want left behind on your coins. Where acetone really shines, in my experience, is taking off PVC slime. That stuff is so nasty.

You know, right, about acetone and styrofoam cups? No good. Styrofoam is soluble in acetone. Oops. Try it sometime with a packing peanut or piece of styro from a box of something you bought.

My own choice for sticky gumminess would be Googone gel. I do not think it's any worse for a coin than acetone, and it should loosen and dissolve the gum. It doesn't evaporate as fast as acetone.

[KarenHolcomb]

1 minute ago, JKK said:

You'd want to use real acetone, though, the kind that comes in a metal can at Home Despot or Blowe's. The nail polish remover could contain other stuff you wouldn't want left behind on your coins. Where acetone really shines, in my experience, is taking off PVC slime. That stuff is so nasty.

You know, right, about acetone and styrofoam cups? No good. Styrofoam is soluble in acetone. Oops. Try it sometime with a packing peanut or piece of styro from a box of something you bought.

My own choice for sticky gumminess would be Googone gel. I do not think it's any worse for a coin than acetone, and it should loosen and dissolve the gum. It doesn't evaporate as fast as acetone.

JKK, I have totally checked my Kmart, Family and General Dollar stores and couldn't find the Goo-be-gone. I used to use it to remove stickers years ago and am sure I got it at Kmart.

[JKK]

1 hour ago, KarenHolcomb said:

JKK, I have totally checked my Kmart, Family and General Dollar stores and couldn't find the Goo-be-gone. I used to use it to remove stickers years ago and am sure I got it at Kmart.

I got mine at Amazon.

[Conder101]

Goo-Gone is also usually available at Wal-Mart.

Goo-gone will soften the tape residue, but so will acetone,  If there is a lot of residue I would recommend the "swish" technique and you may have to do several soaks changing the acetone  as it dissolves the residue and becomes "saturated".

If you do use goo-gone, which is mostly petroleum distillates and won't affect the metal, I would finish up once again with a flowing acetone rinse.  The reason being that the goo-gone will not completely evaporate, and will typically leave some of the contaminate material behind. (you could probably eliminate that last problem with a flowing rinse of goo-gone but that will get expensive, acetone is cheaper.)

Goo-gone works great for removing tape and sticky residues off of thing where you don't want to use acetone because it would dissolve them, but Goo-gone also works best as a wipe where you are using the liquid as a solvent and the cloth or paper towel to wipe it away.  Great for removing stickers from slabs, not so much at removing residue from coins.

[Bobsr]

Ok Nikki:

I'm going to add my 2 1909 s-vdb's worth ( cents ). There are 212 ways to erroneously clean coins and only 1 right way. the right way is "Don't ". As a newby, we all go through the phase of wanting our coins to look bright and new and clean and shiny, when in actuality the natural tone coming with age is very desirable to a lot of collectors. You should never ever attempt to change the looks of any coin worth more than $100.00. Leave that to experts. As a newby, you are going to ruin a lot of coins trying to get that look, Trust me, I have a BIG Bin full of Junk that used to be worth a few dollars that nobody will even look at today. If the coins are just dirty and you are in no hurry, drop them into a small dish and cover with olive oil and leave for a while, checking every couple of weeks to insure the oil doesn't go stale. May take a year or 2 for the dirt to come off. Additionally you can drop them into a splatter screen or strainer and put in your dish washer,, which will rinse off the oil and air dry. Again very NOT recommended as the coins will be jostled around and add scratches and dings and unless you are ABSOLUTELY Positive they have very little value Don't try this. I had a Gold $ 3.00 piece that was an MS 62 value around $2200.00. A previous owner had lightly dusted ( cleaned ) the coin in its past and was not readily visible to the eye even with a loop. I sent it to PCGS for grading and it came back " Uncirculated Details " which meant cleaned. I finally unloaded it for $850.00  barely 30% of its value uncleaned . All that being said, they are your coins and you can do as you wish with them , But if you are collecting as an investment, if you clean them when you go to sell them, don't expect more than pennies on the dollar .

Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs

[KarenHolcomb]

1 hour ago, Conder101 said:

Goo-Gone is also usually available at Wal-Mart.

Goo-gone will soften the tape residue, but so will acetone,  If there is a lot of residue I would recommend the "swish" technique and you may have to do several soaks changing the acetone  as it dissolves the residue and becomes "saturated".

If you do use goo-gone, which is mostly petroleum distillates and won't affect the metal, I would finish up once again with a flowing acetone rinse.  The reason being that the goo-gone will not completely evaporate, and will typically leave some of the contaminate material behind. (you could probably eliminate that last problem with a flowing rinse of goo-gone but that will get expensive, acetone is cheaper.)

Goo-gone works great for removing tape and sticky residues off of thing where you don't want to use acetone because it would dissolve them, but Goo-gone also works best as a wipe where you are using the liquid as a solvent and the cloth or paper towel to wipe it away.  Great for removing stickers from slabs, not so much at removing residue from coins.

Thanks mych Condor. I do so hate Wal-Mart, but my local ACE hardware carries the acetone. I appreciate in info.

[KarenHolcomb]

6 hours ago, JKK said:

I got mine at Amazon.

I get lots of stuff from Amazon. Lol! I hardly have to leave my yard nowadays.

[KarenHolcomb]

15 hours ago, Conder101 said:

Goo-Gone is also usually available at Wal-Mart.

Goo-gone will soften the tape residue, but so will acetone,  If there is a lot of residue I would recommend the "swish" technique and you may have to do several soaks changing the acetone  as it dissolves the residue and becomes "saturated".

If you do use goo-gone, which is mostly petroleum distillates and won't affect the metal, I would finish up once again with a flowing acetone rinse.  The reason being that the goo-gone will not completely evaporate, and will typically leave some of the contaminate material behind. (you could probably eliminate that last problem with a flowing rinse of goo-gone but that will get expensive, acetone is cheaper.)

Goo-gone works great for removing tape and sticky residues off of thing where you don't want to use acetone because it would dissolve them, but Goo-gone also works best as a wipe where you are using the liquid as a solvent and the cloth or paper towel to wipe it away.  Great for removing stickers from slabs, not so much at removing residue from coins.

It worked! It worked! It worked! Lickety split!

 

14 hours ago, KarenHolcomb said:

I get lots of stuff from Amazon. Lol! I hardly have to leave my yard nowadays.

Check them out below, JKK!

[JKK]

If they had a bunch of stickem on them, you didn't have much choice. My rule for cleaning is when a) I can't even tell wtf it is until I remove all this filth, or b) I know what it is and I'd rather have one of those that looked cleaned than one that remained in the state I first saw it. I one time got a buttload of wheaties, like forty deteriorating PVC tubefuls, and had to go through jar after jar of acetone. Did it mean some cleaned-looking coins? Why, yes. But without that conservation, the slime would have damaged them for true. No option.

The silver/CuNi pieces do in the photo seem to have the blast white cleaned color now (maybe they also did before; if so, nothing lost), but looks like a nice assortment and a good start on type collecting if that's where you decide to go. Copper always needs a little gentleness with cleaning; it's touchy and discolors so easily.

[KarenHolcomb]

1 hour ago, JKK said:

If they had a bunch of stickem on them, you didn't have much choice. My rule for cleaning is when a) I can't even tell wtf it is until I remove all this filth, or b) I know what it is and I'd rather have one of those that looked cleaned than one that remained in the state I first saw it. I one time got a buttload of wheaties, like forty deteriorating PVC tubefuls, and had to go through jar after jar of acetone. Did it mean some cleaned-looking coins? Why, yes. But without that conservation, the slime would have damaged them for true. No option.

The silver/CuNi pieces do in the photo seem to have the blast white cleaned color now (maybe they also did before; if so, nothing lost), but looks like a nice assortment and a good start on type collecting if that's where you decide to go. Copper always needs a little gentleness with cleaning; it's touchy and discolors so easily.

I think they look fantastic. With the frame and template are def worth the $50. There are 4 that I self graded, as compared to PCGS app, at MS-61 or higher! Still not worth a whole lot, but that's alright. I am super happy..