Safely cleaning coins. If not intended to profit or grade them 1 1

[Mr.Bill347]

Is there really any way to safely clean a coin if you have no intention of grading or profiting from them, but just to pass them on to grandchildren. Example old Lincoln cents. I read this method on a leading coin/bullion dealer site.

METHOD 2: VINEGAR

STEP 1: GATHER MATERIALS

For this method, you will need the following:

• Distilled white vinegar
• Shallow bowl
• Distilled water
• Soft towel

STEP 2: SOAK COIN IN VINEGAR

Pour your distilled white vinegar into your shallow bowl. There should be enough vinegar to completely cover your coins. Gently place your coin or coins into the vinegar. Let your coins sit for at least 30 minutes. If your coins are especially dirty, you can let them set in the vinegar overnight.

STEP 3: RINSE COIN WITH WATER

Remove the coins from the vinegar and gently rinse with distilled water. Remember to use distilled water, not tap water! The chemicals and fluoride in tap water could damage your coins.

STEP 4: LET COIN DRY

After the coins have been rinsed, let the coins dry on your soft towel. Do not rub the coins to dry them!

[Coinbuf]

Very bad idea to mess with copper, vinegar is a strong liquid and I would highly advise you not to do that.   But if you must, try it out on a single coin so you can see the results.   Depending on the age of the coins I expect that you will be left with pink coins that look stripped and very unnatural.

[Mr.Bill347]

9 minutes ago, Coinbuf said:

Very bad idea to mess with copper, vinegar is a strong liquid and I would highly advise you not to do that.   But if you must, try it out on a single coin so you can see the results.   Depending on the age of the coins I expect that you will be left with pink coins that look stripped and very unnatural.

Thank you. I don’t think I would have the nerve to do that, but may try something like Verdi-care or coinconditioner realizing that severe verdigras is never really removed but more stabilized. Thank you!

[EdG_Ohio]

I've had no issues with using Acetone on copper or silver. It won't magically remove all crud but if it's not embedded or encrusted on it for a long period of time it can lift some off. Trying to pick off pieces or larger debris may result in uneven color on coin, personal discretion advised.   Using the Qtip rolling method helps but only gently....you are not scouring the crud off a old skillet.
Needless to say all safety precautions should be taken when using. I'll admit I don't buy distilled water but do use bottled water for a rinse. Lay on paper towel and gently dab with PT and allow to dry on crumpled foil. I have sent a handful in (8 ?) for grading with no "cleaned" label return...so far.
This is just a opinion and only for personal use of coins.

[JKK]

16 hours ago, Mr.Bill347 said:

Is there really any way to safely clean a coin if you have no intention of grading or profiting from them, but just to pass them on to grandchildren. Example old Lincoln cents. I read this method on a leading coin/bullion dealer site.

Well, that'll make sure the grandchildren never get to grade or profit from them, so they won't have many attractive alternatives to keeping them in the family. So I guess if that were the goal, one could say "mission accomplished."

Our philosophical descendants (perhaps even a few of our younger folk who stick around) will see the grandkids in about 15-25 years, in whatever medium then fills the purpose served by this message board. They will tell us they just inherited Bampaw's Collection and are so excited, because Bampaw was Greatest Numismatist Evs. He. Knew. Everything. This surely must be worth a fortune! And they'll display a bunch of images in whatever way the medium permits, and the regulars will try as tactfully as possible to tell them that Bampaw or someone cleaned the coins; that there's nothing they can do about that; that any value is significantly degraded. Loyally, they'll insist that Bampaw would never do such a thing, so it had to be someone else. Of course.

Won't change what happened to the coins. They will remain as Bampaw *spoon*ed them up.

[Mr.Bill347]

Thanks JKK. Ok I've been talked out of it. Mine are all nice anyway, I was just asking the question that I already knew the answer too. So thanks for the nudge. I just obtained a sweet 1976 Proof set. Thinking about shining them up>>> NOT!

[JKK]

In the realm of positive things one can do to pass on the coins to children, one is to put them in well-labeled plastic holders. I still have the early 1960s birth year proof set (in after-market holder) my folks got me when I was seven. Had I been a tinkerer, I could surely have unscrewed the laminated plastic holding the coins in place, but there was no way I was going to open that up and mess with them without knowing what I was doing. I only opened them about four years ago in order to get a closer examination for grading purposes, now that I knew (as I did not in childhood) there were grade levels of proofs.

If I were thinking of passing on coins to grandkids, I'd make sure I created a psychological barrier to tampering my putting them in something more durable than cardboard flips and more Cheeto dust-proof than a Whitman album. Of course, then I'd have to stop containing them in album pages for 2x2 flips, but nothing's without consequences. Airtites are fine, but they don't have anywhere to write what it is. Where the coin spot in the album is filled by one of my very few slabs, I have an empty labeled 2x2 describing the coin, which sits in another part of the safe.

Another way to help the kids is to group them by likely disposition. All the junk that's worth melt? Not hard to drop a note in there. All the junk that's worth face? A simple note. The grandchildren who come in here are faced with Bampaw's Coinpocalypse and have no idea what to focus on. What a help it would be to tell them what they did not need to focus on. If they then decide numismatics are fun and want to dig through them anyway, well, you won at Bampaw.

[EdG_Ohio]

10 hours ago, Mr.Bill347 said:

Thanks JKK. Ok I've been talked out of it. Mine are all nice anyway, I was just asking the question that I already knew the answer too. So thanks for the nudge. I just obtained a sweet 1976 Proof set. Thinking about shining them up>>> NOT!

I see no need to do anything to those, I was under the impression you had some nastiness...that ain't those ... going on by your description.