How do I WIPE OFF a silver coin without damaging it?

[investinrehabs]

I bought a Canadian coin yesterday from the Pawn Shop. It was stored in a flip sleeve. Looked like it had some dust on it from sitting around and I want to store it in an air tite. But I don't want to scratch the coin, so I'm wondering what I can use to gently wipe it off. Any suggestions? BTW...it's not a proof coin. 

[JKK]

Gently with a soft, clean cloth. But if you think it's just dust, I'd use duster on it.

[investinrehabs]

Thank you.

[Just Bob]

Try canned air.

Or a rinse under running water, followed by an acetone rinse to dry/remove the water.

 

[JKK]

4 hours ago, investinrehabs said:

Thank you.

Just to be clear, by 'duster' I mean exactly what Bob means by 'canned air.'

[Just Bob]

2 minutes ago, JKK said:

Just to be clear, by 'duster' I mean exactly what Bob means by 'canned air.'

I thought you meant a feather duster.

[JKK]

45 minutes ago, Just Bob said:

I thought you meant a feather duster.

Heh. I started calling it duster after watching an Intervention show about some kid who bought it by the case and used it to get high. That's what he called it.

[Numismatic, A.A.S.]

Carefully

[Conder101]

On 1/29/2019 at 5:29 PM, Just Bob said:

Or a rinse under running water, followed by an acetone rinse to dry/remove the water

Or just do a flowing rinse with the acetone, it will dry in a few seconds, and into the Airtite..

[investinrehabs]

On 1/30/2019 at 11:50 PM, Conder101 said:

Or just do a flowing rinse with the acetone, it will dry in a few seconds, and into the Airtite..

Mohawk, So your'e saying that I can clean any coin with acetone without damaging the value? Some people say to NEVER clean a coin, so that's why I'm wondering if acetone is ok. Obviously it'll clean it, but I want to make sure that won't affect the value. Example: If I cleaned a coin with acetone and sent it in to be graded, would they lower the grade on the cleaned coin?  Thanks

[Conder101]

The reason the standard response when asked about cleaning a coin is "NEVER!", is because it is very difficult to improve a coin even with a proper cleaning, but it is VERY easy to damage a coin or reduce the value by cleaning.  It can take a LOT of explaining to tell someone how t properly clean a given coin, and every coin has to be evaluated separately, so the first thing we say is DON"T!  That is to stop them before they jump in a do something the wrong way first.

Acetone is a simple solvent that will not react with the metal of a coin or any of the normal metal compounds that result from the natural toning process (metal oxides, sufides, sulfates, chlorides etc.)  It does tend to dissolve organic materials such as oils or greases.  And since it is 100% miscible with water, it makes a great drying agent as well.  It is not a miracle cleaning solution and there are some things that it won't dissolve that water, or another solvent, such as xylene, will dissolve better.  But Acetone is harmless to the coin, cheap, and readily available, so other than distilled water it is the go to solvent.  Even with acetone though, there is the right way and the wrong way to do things.  And even with acetone you have the possibility of removing a layer of organics that was hiding other previous cleaning problems such as hairlining.

[investinrehabs]

14 minutes ago, Conder101 said:

The reason the standard response when asked about cleaning a coin is "NEVER!", is because it is very difficult to improve a coin even with a proper cleaning, but it is VERY easy to damage a coin or reduce the value by cleaning.  It can take a LOT of explaining to tell someone how t properly clean a given coin, and every coin has to be evaluated separately, so the first thing we say is DON"T!  That is to stop them before they jump in a do something the wrong way first.

Acetone is a simple solvent that will not react with the metal of a coin or any of the normal metal compounds that result from the natural toning process (metal oxides, sufides, sulfates, chlorides etc.)  It does tend to dissolve organic materials such as oils or greases.  And since it is 100% miscible with water, it makes a great drying agent as well.  It is not a miracle cleaning solution and there are some things that it won't dissolve that water, or another solvent, such as xylene, will dissolve better.  But Acetone is harmless to the coin, cheap, and readily available, so other than distilled water it is the go to solvent.  Even with acetone though, there is the right way and the wrong way to do things.  And even with acetone you have the possibility of removing a layer of organics that was hiding other previous cleaning problems such as hairlining.

Thanks for the response. The coins I would want to clean, are newer silver MS coins I bought a few years back. Like Eagles and Maple Leafs. I bought them new. I made the mistake of touching them with my bare hands. Sp maybe I'll give a couple of them a rinse with acetone, to take off any "grease" I left behind. 

[Conder101]

The acetone should remove any skin oils, but may leave salts behind. (remember, sweat is made up of water, skin oils and dissolved salts.)  Also if there has been any reaction between the oils and salts and the metal the acetone will not remove that. It is also possible for the skin oils to act as a mask.  The coin could tone slightly, almost imperceptibly everywhere EXCEPT where the skin oil protected it.  Then the acetone could remove the oil and reveal the fingerprint.  This is why if you accidentally fingerprint a coin it has to be removed immediately.  The longer it is allowed to remain the more likely it will be permanent.

[investinrehabs]

Ok. I'll see what happens with them. Maybe I'll get lucky and the ones I don't clean, will develop a nice tone. I doubt it, but you never know!