Cleaning coppers

[Old Dude]

Hi all. I recently bought some wheat cents on EBay. I am trying to luck into a full set. In my last purchase, the seller included a roll of cents in poor shape as a "bonus" roll. They were all either badly scratched, mangled or just extremely dirty. I thought the dirty ones were good candidates for cleaning experiments. I gave them a bath in the electrolysis setup for 30 minutes with 50% tap water, 50% distilled white vinegar and 2 tablespoons sea salt. They were very black when I took them out and rinsed them under tap water. I then gently rubbed common baking soda on them with my fingers until satisfied. The pictures are before and after. I think it worked OK.

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[Gaspipe]

In general anytime you clean a coin you devalue the coin especially with any kind of abrasive ..mild or not. Metal detectorists clean coins so we can see what they are and bring out detail to identify them. You cleaning your Lincoln's may make them look better but to a real coin collector it would be frowned upon.

 

[Old Dude]

Yes sir, I know that. That is why I would never do it to a valuable coin. As I said, it was an experiment. Thanks for your reply.


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[maipenrai]

But at some point, dont all coins get cleaned? Like the 1952 wheat cent, above, im sure it wouldnt spend the rest of its life, as dirty as that. Who would want to have a coin collection with just dirty coins? If the coin was worth $1000, I could see someone just using water and a toothpick to clean it, but its still being cleaned, and probably will get a few more scratches. But if the coins is only worth a dollar, no one will take a week to clean it, right? If the coins was dug, then there is less chance or no chance that it is in mint condition, so why is cleaning it, subtracting from its value, unless its cleaned with an angle grinder? Most dug coins will have corrosion, so no chance of soap and water cleaning them up...What to do?