Cleaning Coins

[Archie]

Is it possible to clean coins which are 50% silver and 50% copper?

 

Note that I would only propose cleaning coins that are particularly dirty & unattractive.

[numismatic nut]

Welcome to the fourm!

 

You must know that If you inproperly clean your coins, then their value goes down. You should also know that you can send your coins to places to be profesnly restored.

 

Now you have a few ways to clean. You could try an ultra-sonic jewerly cleaner. You can put a safe cleaning fluid in the chamber with the coins, and ger vibration.

 

You could also try electrostatis.this infoo can be found on the internet. You basicly hook up a 9 volt battery to your coin in a certain way.

 

Acetone, or finger nail polish remover is goog. Just make shure it is 100% acetone. You don't want to slime your coins with beauty products. As a note acetone eats away certain plastics (oldstyle packing peanuts) and may be bad if you spill. I had thst stuff fuse my coin box keeys together and it was work trying to pull them apart.

 

Cleaning: do it once, do it right, and don't mess up.

[bobh]

Is it possible to clean coins which are 50% silver and 50% copper?

 

Note that I would only propose cleaning coins that are particularly dirty & unattractive.

Welcome to CoinPeople, Archie!

 

Do you have any pictures of these coins?

 

It depends on what kind of "dirt" you have ... coins which are corroded or have heavy patina should not be cleaned at all because the surfaces would look very unnatural after the corrosion or patina has been stripped. Besides, there are many people who actually like toned coins and don't find them dirty at all.

 

If the dirt is superficial, you might try using olive oil (but only with circulated coins). Soak, do not rub -- rubbing leaves scratches! As someone else mentioned, pure acetone is also good for removing organic material. I have had good luck removing spots of green verdigris from copper coins by soaking them in olive oil for about a month, but YMMV. As usual, try it out first on a coin which isn't valuable.

 

One caveat is in order for using acetone with copper coins: make sure the coin is completely dry before immersing it in the acetone, and do it in a dark area if possible. Acetone can react unfavorably with copper in the presence of water and light.

[cestrin]

On a similar topic, what's the best thing to use on a silver coin that has oil from a vinyl slip on it?

[bobh]

On a similar topic, what's the best thing to use on a silver coin that has oil from a vinyl slip on it?

Acetone won't hurt silver coins at all. However, most silver coins have about 0.100 parts copper mixed in, so maybe it is a good idea to take similar precautions as with copper or bronze coins (see my previous post). Also, acetone can remove PVC residue if it hasn't bonded with the metal in the coin yet.

[hiho]

As a rule of thumb I NEVER clean coins. They lose value and you have altered their history for the next owner.

 

Once in awhile I do need to remove PVC residue though. I soak the coin in a sealed glass jar of 99% isopropyl alcohol for two weeks and that usually does the trick without causing more damage to the coin.