Cleaning 90% coins

[SilverDragon72]

Hello....I'm sure this topic has probably been discussed already somewhere. I'm wondering what some thoughts are regarding cleaning any
90% silver. I've looked on YouTube to see what they say. Not going to clean anything numismatic, but rather just some common coins. Like
some quarters from 1964 for example. I have some silver jewelry cleaner that I'm thinking about using. Does this kind of cleaning
ruin the coin physically?

[beauanderos]

if you're thinking of, for example, cleaning some quarters that have been through a fire, with dark smoky soot disfiguring them... certainly a shiny quarter with eye
appeal, such as that which could be obtained by using Tarn-X, would hold higher appeal for my own personal holdings. They're not numies anyway, a coin dealer will
give you the same rate as coins that haven't been cleaned. So... why not, if it makes you happy?

If you decide down the road to sell to another member on a coin forum, just inform them that some of the coins have been cleaned.

[SilverDragon72]

Yes, I would disclose if the coins have been cleaned. There is just something that I really enjoy about shiny silver! I know some people prefer the tarnishing
that comes with age and toning on numismatic coins. None of my quarters are particularly dirty or anything, but there are a few of them that could use a cleaning I suppose. If I
sold them to a dealer, then I would get a price based upon just silver bullion spot for the day.

I did clean some of my small copper hoard with salt and white vinegar to shine them up some. They are cleaner to be sure, but I wonder if they will lose the
cleaned look over time or not. After cleaning, I rinsed them with plain water, and let them air dry on a towel. I will not clean any wheat pennies, or Indian head
ones that I find either. Does copper change color back to a darker brown color or grow some kind of green/blue verdigris?

[Bigjohn]

Personally, I am against cleaning 90%. If I had to pick between cleaned and uncleaned 90%, I'd buy uncleand all day long. If it makes you happy, do it. You might shrink your buyer pool when you sell but if you are selling to a dealer it really won't matter. My LCS lets me cherry pick his 90%, I always leave cleaned stuff in the tray.

[68Camaro]

Certain coins but none more so than 1964 US silver are nothing more than bullion with a bit of copper mixed into them. They were minted by the thousands of TONS, and despite the big melt, much of it still exists. Do whatever you want with it. Dip it, scrub it, or don't - doesn't matter. This mystique about a certain amount of corrosion on the surface of a lump of metal is - at some point - just ridiculous.

Numismatic coins, sure - pay attention to originality, leave them alone. Even bullion-focused people can have a bit of respect for them. But for bullion coins there is no reason to either freak about cleaning, nor to worship the corrosion.

[Thogey]

Personally, I am against cleaning 90%. If I had to pick between cleaned and uncleaned 90%, I'd buy uncleand all day long. If it makes you happy, do it. You might shrink your buyer pool when you sell but if you are selling to a dealer it really won't matter. My LCS lets me cherry pick his 90%, I always leave cleaned stuff in the tray.

I'm on this train.

Although it is junk, why narrow your market by cleaning?

Isn't the goal, to sell your silver at some point?

[beauanderos]

Personally, I am against cleaning 90%. If I had to pick between cleaned and uncleaned 90%, I'd buy uncleand all day long. If it makes you happy, do it. You might shrink your buyer pool when you sell but if you are selling to a dealer it really won't matter. My LCS lets me cherry pick his 90%, I always leave cleaned stuff in the tray.

I'm on this train.

Although it is junk, why narrow your market by cleaning?

Isn't the goal, to sell your silver at some point?

that used to be my goal. Now it has become NOT to sell it at any point. For what? Increasingly worthless fiat currency? The reason most of us supposedly ascribe to buying metals
in the first place is because we know the dollar is worthless. My goal has changed to riding through whatever comes and then exchange it into that new currency. Although, I suppose,
that's the same as selling it... just not for dollars. Anyways, should that scenario occur, the big money that by then is chasing silver and gold will hardly care that a few coins
were cleaned.

There's also a difference between what most of us consider cleaned... those coins that look like they were buffed (in a rock tumbler?) to a high gloss... vs careful dipping which only removes
heavy toning, and restores luster, without any visible damage.

[Thogey]

But you sell your coins all the time. You are selling halves right now.
Try this. Put a cleaned/dipped roll and a natural roll up for sale at the same price.
Let's see what sells first.

[68Camaro]

But you sell your coins all the time. You are selling halves right now.
Try this. Put a cleaned/dipped roll and a natural roll up for sale at the same price.
Let's see what sells first.

Wouldn't be a very good experiment, because if he was stupid enough to put two full-weight rolls up at the same market price, with one being correctly cleaned and the other with normal circulated grime and tarnish, I would snap up the cleaned roll in a heartbeat. There is cost and effort associated with cleaning those coins; effort I wouldn't want to have to do, so for that example it's a no-brainer.

[beauanderos]

But you sell your coins all the time. You are selling halves right now.
Try this. Put a cleaned/dipped roll and a natural roll up for sale at the same price.
Let's see what sells first.

I'm only selling a few rolls from a larger purchase (yeah, I overdid it) and just to pay taxes, not for the purpose of flipping them to make a quick buck.

[68Camaro]

And I generally wouldn't clean Franklins or Walkers; they are more limited edition coins that are numi- or semi-numi. My statements are limited to the massive mint years that will never be numi.

[Thogey]

Wouldn't be a very good experiment, because if he was stupid enough to put two full-weight rolls up at the same market price, with one being correctly cleaned and the other with normal circulated grime and tarnish, I would snap up the cleaned roll in a heartbeat. There is cost and effort associated with cleaning those coins; effort I wouldn't want to have to do, so for that example it's a no-brainer.

I'm only selling a few rolls from a larger purchase (yeah, I overdid it) and just to pay taxes, not for the purpose of flipping them to make a quick buck.

So here is, your market for "correctly" cleaned coins, and Ray isn't really selling his coins.

I defer. You guys are right as usual. I've been married for 28 years and know when I've been beat.

Clean your junk silver, it's better.

[beauanderos]

I still buy on dips... but I've only sold two items since May of 16. Before that, yeah, I used to flip a bit.

Hey, thread drift... imagine how the big coin dealers will feel if there's ever an overnight reset resulting in a "to the moon, Alice" moment,
and they're suddenly feelthy rich?

[SilverDragon72]

I'm going to go ahead and clean my coins with the "EZ est" coin cleaning solution that I have. I've seen plenty of YouTube videos showing the various methods
of cleaning. Again, NO numismatic ones. I would love to be able to get them to a polished look, but I don't have the kind of equipment for that. We'll see what
happens.

[highroller4321]

I'm going to go ahead and clean my coins with the "EZ est" coin cleaning solution that I have. I've seen plenty of YouTube videos showing the various methods
of cleaning. Again, NO numismatic ones. I would love to be able to get them to a polished look, but I don't have the kind of equipment for that. We'll see what
happens.

FYI polished and badly cleaned coins will make them worth less then silver spot. Even if a coin is not numismatic you shouldn't really be cleaning them unless.

[SilverDragon72]

All of the coins that I want to clean are from 1964, halves or quarters. I wouldn't try to pass them off as anything other than plain silver bullion....should I decide to sell
them one day. I plan on holding on to these long term. Good to know other people's thoughts on this.

[aloneibreak]

All of the coins that I want to clean are from 1964, halves or quarters. I wouldn't try to pass them off as anything other than plain silver bullion....should I decide to sell
them one day. I plan on holding on to these long term. Good to know other people's thoughts on this.

everyones opinion differs

it would be interesting to start a simple poll

i, for one, pass on cleaned silver -- even 64 dated stuff

what i get in mixed lots i sort out and sell at first opportunity as, just that, cleaned silver

[InfleXion]

I've never not passed on a cleaned coin as a buyer. I'd only clean it if you plan to keep it and enjoy it that way.

If you don't care about the value the best thing I've read about (note I have not tested) is household ammonia cleaner. It can supposedly remove milk spots. The more common method is to use an acetone bath. You could use jewelry wipes to get most anything off if you don't care about tons of hairline scratches.

The only successful cleaning I have done was with warm and soapy water to get some fingerprints and dust off of a coin that had a large reflective area, one of my ATBs. Used a q-tip to carefully soak away any rinse water. It was painstaking and a little stressful, because it's a coin I want to collect and keep and have it look nice.

I did try test cleaning some 90% I don't care about once with a hot water mix of baking soda and vinegar on aluminum foil, but it didn't seem to do much of anything.

[SilverDragon72]

Ok, so I finished cleaning my coins tonight and I have to say that I'm rather happy with the results I got. I used the EZ est coin cleaner that I bought from a jeweler a while back. I simply dipped them in the solution for about 10 seconds and ran them under tap water. No scrubbing and placed them on a towel to pat dry.

[68Camaro]

At some point (and it might be another year, because I've passed the time of the year where I tend to have some spare time) I'll pull some really tarnished but otherwise AU 64 halves and take some pictures, then run them through a dip cleaner and re-take the photos. Regardless of whether or not you support the idea of cleaning, you'll be able to make up your own mind as to which state will be more easily traded should we get to the point where 90% becomes trade stock.

[oober]

I did some of this cleaning when I was new. I eventually sold all at discount because after time they just looked so ugly compared to uncleaned coins...

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

Why?

[rainsonme]

I have a very nice barber dime, full liberty, very little wear. Some dark staining on the front. But on the back, is part of the book it must have been glued into back in 1905. I have had it soaking in acetone for 6 weeks now, often shaking the glass bottle. Not much improvement. Would paint thinner do better, or should I just give it a year in acetone, then give up? It is really a very nice coin, other than the bonus coin book stuck to the back.

[IdahoCopper]

I have a very nice barber dime, full liberty, very little wear. Some dark staining on the front. But on the back, is part of the book it must have been glued into back in 1905. I have had it soaking in acetone for 6 weeks now, often shaking the glass bottle. Not much improvement. Would paint thinner do better, or should I just give it a year in acetone, then give up? It is really a very nice coin, other than the bonus coin book stuck to the back.

Since acetone hasn't resolved the problem, step it up to something else. MEK, or gasoline, or TEC (do not mix together any of these). You can't hurt the silver unless you go to strong acids (don't do that).

[rainsonme]

I rinsed my 1905-S Barber dime in hot water, and was then able to remove the matted material from the back side of the coin. It still has some dark stains on both sides, but the detail is remarkable. Thanks, Mr. Copper for your advice; I will hold the MEK for another day/coin. And thanks to RealCent for giving me a place to ask my questions.