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- Feb 26, 2013
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Hi Folks
I am after some advice on cleaning coins. I've found a few "silver" and "copper" decimal coins (1c, 2c, 10c and 20c) so far and given they have no real value I was wanting to clean them up and have them somewhat slightly more presentable.
I guess I kind of need to break this up into 4 parts.
Cleaning copper coins
Cleaning modern silver coins (low silver content ie: 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c)
Cleaning modern gold coins ($1, $2)
Cleaning older silver coins (high silver content)
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Basically the coins I've dug up so far are horribly discoloured and encrusted in decades of caked on crud that water simply won't budge. The 10c and 20c pieces I've found are particularly discoloured, the copper coins 1c and 2c are a bit encrusted and have that green coloured build up on them. I'm not wanting to restore them to brand new, I'm just hoping to clean them up sufficiently so that they look a bit more like the coins they once were.
Now I fully understand that cleaning coins can damage and de-value rare or valuable coins, and cleaning is not always recommended, however this will just be for low value common coins I have collected to date.
What I've read so far is the best way to clean copper coins is in Olive Oil, however some say Mineral Oil is better as sometimes Olive Oil can darken the copper. I'm hoping someone might have tried either or both and can offer their findings. Also Olive Oil is easy enough to find, but with Mineral Oil what exactly does one look for? Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil is pure Mineral Oil but also has a perfume added so I wasn't sure if this is safe to use. A quick Google search also shows Mineral Oil for sealing and protecting wood and food grade Mineral Oil for chopping blocks, however when I checked Bunnings online nothing came up specifically under Mineral Oil.
I haven't had much luck finding info on cleaning modern decimal silver coins at this stage. All the information I've found more specifically relates to old silver coins of high silver content like florins and the such.
For cleaning old silver coins I've read that a cloudy ammonia bath (from 4 - 12 hours depending on how bad the coin is) followed by a gentle toothbrush with bi-card soda scrub works well.
And lastly I haven't really seen anything about cleaning modern gold coins. At any rate I haven't found one yet, but if I keep swinging I'm sure one will turn up before long.
Thanks
Adam
I am after some advice on cleaning coins. I've found a few "silver" and "copper" decimal coins (1c, 2c, 10c and 20c) so far and given they have no real value I was wanting to clean them up and have them somewhat slightly more presentable.
I guess I kind of need to break this up into 4 parts.
Cleaning copper coins
Cleaning modern silver coins (low silver content ie: 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c)
Cleaning modern gold coins ($1, $2)
Cleaning older silver coins (high silver content)
______________________________________________________________
Basically the coins I've dug up so far are horribly discoloured and encrusted in decades of caked on crud that water simply won't budge. The 10c and 20c pieces I've found are particularly discoloured, the copper coins 1c and 2c are a bit encrusted and have that green coloured build up on them. I'm not wanting to restore them to brand new, I'm just hoping to clean them up sufficiently so that they look a bit more like the coins they once were.
Now I fully understand that cleaning coins can damage and de-value rare or valuable coins, and cleaning is not always recommended, however this will just be for low value common coins I have collected to date.
What I've read so far is the best way to clean copper coins is in Olive Oil, however some say Mineral Oil is better as sometimes Olive Oil can darken the copper. I'm hoping someone might have tried either or both and can offer their findings. Also Olive Oil is easy enough to find, but with Mineral Oil what exactly does one look for? Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil is pure Mineral Oil but also has a perfume added so I wasn't sure if this is safe to use. A quick Google search also shows Mineral Oil for sealing and protecting wood and food grade Mineral Oil for chopping blocks, however when I checked Bunnings online nothing came up specifically under Mineral Oil.
I haven't had much luck finding info on cleaning modern decimal silver coins at this stage. All the information I've found more specifically relates to old silver coins of high silver content like florins and the such.
For cleaning old silver coins I've read that a cloudy ammonia bath (from 4 - 12 hours depending on how bad the coin is) followed by a gentle toothbrush with bi-card soda scrub works well.
And lastly I haven't really seen anything about cleaning modern gold coins. At any rate I haven't found one yet, but if I keep swinging I'm sure one will turn up before long.
Thanks
Adam
