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When does cleaning become cleaning

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Sorry if this is in the wrong furum but this seems to be the most active. My question is about cleaning. Apparently from reading here it appears that some cleaning is acceptable, acetone dips as an example. How does that differ from a dunk in jewelry cleaner or a little soap and water or a tarnish remover? I recently had an ASE unc with a nasty brown tarnish mark on the face that just killed the coin. Since it's a bullion coin I dipped it in Tarnex and actually scrubbed it with a tooth brush. The mark is gone and even under 10x magnification I can not tell the difference between this "assulted coin" and a pristine coin. I am sure a product like a tarnish remover will eventually eat into the coins surface and that brings me back to the question. When does cleaning become a bad thing. I am talking about common circulated modern stuff here.

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There are people here more qualified than I to answer this question. I will just say that if you clean a coin where the graders can see hairlines, they will bodybag the coin. When you dip a coin in Tarnex, you are taking a micro layer of metal off the coin. This can seriously affect the luster of the coin. If the luster is affected not only will the coin look dull it will also have a affect on the grade you will receive.

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You should really have used a concentrated form of Acid like Sulfuric or Nitric. However, there is a much better chemical on the market that is more possitive in the usage of cleaning coins. You didn't mention if Gold or Silver. However, the chemical I was refering to would work equally on either. It's called Aqua Regia. Otherwise noted as Nitrosyl Chloride. laugh.gif

Just kidding of course. The problem is when you clean a coin, any coin, with anything, you may remove some contaminates as you discribed. Also, along with the contaminate, you remove some of the original metal material. The tarnish mark you discribed could possibly have been a substance that attacked the metal and combined with it. Your removing the substance also removed some of the metal of the original. You may not see it but any decent dealer or collector may or may not notice this. If they do the cleaned item is doomed to be sold for far less than originally valued.

Oh in case you don't know Aqua Regia is about the strongest acid known and will dissolve Gold, Silver, Platinum, etc.

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Sorry no pictures, no marco lense. It just seems to me the only way a coin is going to get hair lines is if you polish it with some kind of paste. I also acknowledge that given enough time in the solution it probably will affect the surface but in the case I described, the cleaning is undetectable to me under 10x. I am thinking of an experminet, perhaps dip half a silver eagle in tarnex and leave it there for a few hours and have a good comparison. If I can get my hands on a marco lense I will photograph and post the results.

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An acetone soak is generally not considered cleaning since acetone will only affect surface contaminants, which may already have attacked the integrity of the coin's surface, but will not affect the underlying metal. PVC removal is an example of proper acetone usage and the only telltale sign of PVC contamination after acetone treatment will be in any areas where the underlying metal was already attacked by the PVC.

 

Most folks do not consider a quick dip in a mild acidic solution to be cleaning a coin because you will not impart hairlines or move metal other than the metal that is removed from solubilization in the acid. In my opinion, I consider this to be doctoring a coin, but be aware that I am in the vast minority who hold that opinion.

 

Generally, a cleaned coin will show evidence of metal movement, hairlines or surface alteration that had been obtained via physical manipulation such as rubbing the coin. Acetone treated coins, dipped coins and soap-and-watered coins are often found in TPG holders. It is up to the individual collector to determine if the pieces are desireable enough to include in their collection. In my opinion, a workable definition of cleaning might be when a coin shows evidence that it has been handled in such a way as to intentionally alter its appearance in a manner that does not impart homemade toning or mutilation of surfaces such as carving, tooling or puncturing, which would be other topics.

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I believe your question might be refined as...

 

When does conservation become cleaning?

 

That is - conservation is a non-intrusive method of removing contaminants, dirt, or oxidation from a coin's surface without leaving evidence as to the original problem. This is usually done chemically with a reagent or solvent to the original contaminent, and does not alter the original lustre or metal texture.

 

Cleaning would be an intrusive method of removing the same things. In the process of cleaning, the surface texture of the metal is changed such that it reflects light in an unnatural way, leaves hairline scratches, or turns color due to a chemical or physical reaction to the cleaning method.

 

 

Clear as mud? confused-smiley-013.gif

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