found a cleaning way!

USTiger

Hero Member
Apr 30, 2006
745
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Vancouver - WA
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Ace 150
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I think a lot of people use vinegar. It works good for me on silver but it can change the coin. If you have a key coin everyone always says leave it alone and take it to a professional for cleaning. I use vinegar and then finish them off with Silver Cream.
 

When you use this process, you are reducing the numismatic (coin collector's value) of all your silver coins to just the value of the silver contained in them. For example, if you do this to a nice Walking Liberty Half Dollar worth, say, $15, then you are left with the value of a third of an ounce of silver plus maybe a little more. Coin collectors (myself included) do not want these coins. So why do it? Silver comes out of the ground in great shape 95% of the time. It's only when you clean it at home or "field clean" it by rubbing it against your pants leg or rubbing the dirt into the face of the coin with your thumb to read the date that you destroy a potentially attractive coin! So even if you aren't going to sell your finds, your children may wish that you had left them in the condition they were preserved underground in, because they'll be worth less after you've cleaned them with silver polish, rubbing alcohol (baby wipes), vinegar, etc.
 

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