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I usually leave the coins as they are and let the buyer decide about coins but I keep getting cupronickel coins which look black - often just ordinary coins but difficult to change at the bank or spend in that state. Anyone know how I can clean them (without excessive expenditure of elbow grease!), please?
Half a teaspoon of baking powder in an eggcup with hot water & stirred. Just soak the coins in that. Rinse off well.Quote:
Originally Posted by madelaine
I've also heard that tomato sauce works wonders but I've never tried that one.
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Coca Cola.http://www.ebid.net/forums/attachmen...0&d=1295726155Quote:
Originally Posted by madelaine
Yep, best use of that drink!Quote:
Originally Posted by bluebedouin
You can also try soaking in Vinegar or Olive Oil I have heard... might take a while too
Personally, I wouldn't bother - some numismatic purists would agree too.
If you believe the adverts.... Cillit Bang.
best coin cleaner ever - coca cola. the sugary version. fill a glass with coke, put a few coins in ,leave overnight, rinse and dry. the results are amazing
The coke then tastes 'orrible though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maelbrigda
No change there then :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by astral276
many thanks - there are a couple there I haven't tried. Cillit bang doesn't do the cupronickel.
I don't clean anything with any considerable collectable value but the heap of black 5p coins is growing and it is difficult to get them past the bank. I already annoy my bank enough by changing old coins there - It annoys them because they have to store them until the time for collecting them up happens and that is only once a year. I keep going because the money is for the local hospice and they can't get too annoyed about the total of well over £1000 that has been raised from out of date coins in the last 12 months.
The experts always say never clean coins but as a collector I do especially if I get one that is sticky and covered with grime. As said above a soak in coke takes that off.
To me it is over cleaning that ruins a coin. When I buy a silver coin from queen Victorias time and it is almost white with no toning at all it goes straight back to the dealer. Even if it is uncirculated by now it would have toned (sometimes with nice colours) and have its own uniqueness or if it had been stored in newspaper it would still have its mint lustre. Both toning and lustre will be removed by over cleaning.
My advice would be to clean lightly to remove any dirt stuck on the surface, you might be suprised and find some lustre even on old coins and this enhances the value. Soaking for a couple of hours would usually be enough to do this without taking off the toning.
Never, never, never, use elbow grease. Polishing, or even a rub over with a soft cloth or brush leaves marks that can never be removed.
Had a quick look at your listings. The 1941 3d looks cleaned but the 1951 farthing doesn't and to me is a much better coin.
Thank you for the comments & suggestions. I would never do anything much to a collectable coin - those that are listed are mostly exactly as they arrived with me. But I get post 1948 cupronickel coins which are black. They are difficult to spend or exchange and I need to clean them. Coke is making a tiny impression but not much. I'll work through the other suggestions and report back.
However, I have had a bright idea - I can use the discoloured coins for parking meters! They are proper coins and worth the same as they ever were so no-one is being cheated.
Not sure what cupronickel is, but I use a silver polishing cloth to clean old silver jewelry, (only rarely, when it's so black it looks like cast iron, otherwise I'm a purist and don't like to meddle with nature's efforts), and it works like a charm, though it does take a bit of elbow grease, not a lot, though, or I wouldn't do it, LOL. :)
Best wishes for many sales to all,
To report back - coca cola made no impression. I've never found it works for anything - it's supposed to be great for cleaning loos as well but it doesn't do that either in my experience.
I'll say again - I'm cleaning coins so I can use them - I never touch a collectable coin.
Worcestershire Sauce should do the trick. Don't rub - soak.Quote:
Originally Posted by madelaine
Not sure how long we shall be able to use the current £1 coin in parking meters - new one is coming out this month.
Indeed - odd business - all those trolleys and parking meters...
I am not looking forward to the change, I had major problems with vending machines when they switched the 10,20 and 50p coins over. That is the only suggestion I can come up with Maddelaine - use them in vending machines they are not bothered about dirty or clean.
Not sure what the situation is with your Bank, but at Nationwide BS they prefer coinage to be bagge, so if you hide some in the bag they hopefully won't notice. I thought Banks and such like were duty bound to take in coinage. They should not be refusing to.
No, they don't refuse it... it's just time consuming while they check that this green object is, actually a 5pQuote:
Originally Posted by lofty100e
The golden rule of cleaning coins is don't
That said, silver can be brought up with silver dip - but you will loose value unless you wait for the coin to natually tone.
Can't wait for the coin to tone? Then stick the coin in a newly boiled egg (its the sulpher fumes that do the toning), the coin will tone, but you will never fool experts
Copper - don't - ever, clean
Cu-Ni You can always tell when these have been cleaned, most are not worth bothering about anyway, but on the exceptionally rare, less than 10 known. its best to leave the marks on the coin, the value is in the rairity.
Stnenopmocis right. Old collectible coins can lose a great deal of value if they are cleaned.
That said, if a coin is covered with crusted dirt, it could be soaked in soapy water, rinsed, and allowed to air dry. But anything that removes toning will cause it to lose value to serious collectors.
Cupronickel, great word!
I only ever clean 2p coins for Xmas when they accompany everyone's scratch cards. They come up nice with a bit of The Pink Stuff paste although that's probably quite harsh.
If You are cleaning them just for 'fun' and they have no real value - be careful some 2p coins are worth a bit more than you would expect - then, in my experementing, Silver Dip will bring up a copper coin to a nice pink finish, but that will last and never return to the correct copper colour. Beware of stripping the copper plated steel recent versions, you can tell these with a magnet. ABOVE ALL Check the rareity of everything before you do anything to the coin
To a point I agree the warm soapy water theory, but drying it will rub the high points and leaving it to dry naturally will leave a film over the fields, and these can be spotted and reduce the value. So, wash them in water after? Yes, but only soft water, never hard water the question then is how do you dry the?. Never rub, that will wear the high points and leave scratches in the fields. Leave to dry natyrally, not really there will be marks and you will need to stand the coin on its edge. Heat, no similar problem with marks and may affect the fields of the copper.
It's a right puzzle - best not to touch them.
The bigger issue is the decision about a proof coin with a finger mark on it. clean or leave ?
Thank you, Stnen. I used to list a lot of coins and mostly decided to leave them as they were - the buyer can then decide. When I had a good supply, I was selling them rather well here.
I have come across some coins which were in a jar I cleared out my late mother's home, one is very black and can just see some silvery metal on the edges, one side I can make out a cow with the words 10 pence, 1977 and on the reverse it has what looks similar to 3 lions (but not as I normally see them)with writing around the edge which is not English, I have only been able to see the details with the help of a magnifier, any ideas what it could be, also some other coins which include schillings from the 70's.
Now time to find out more about them before listing
Might be Republic of Ireland / Eire ??
Thank you Elench however I did a little hunting on-line last night and found out it is from Jersey so not worth anything. Now to tackle the Schillings searched a little last night, can find nothing so far but will try again later but time to crack on, if weather holds out for tomorrow I am off to a car boot, already closed some of my listings in preparation and they are packed ready.