Friday, June 10, 2011

117. Cleaning Your Coins


image 1: coin A

image 2: coin B
image 3: coin C

image 4: coin D


     I guess today is my lucky day! Sorry, not today, but yesterday to be precise. I found these 4 pieces of 1970 coins from my balance of only RM2 balance. Wonderful isn't?

    All four coins in a circulated condition, so I decided to make experiment onto these coins. I bought a bottle of Brasso and I cleaned 2 of the coins!

    For those who still do not know, cleaning coins is a very bad towards your collecting ethics. Cleaning your coins alters your coins original condition, particularly removing their wonderful lustre. And if the cleaning is proceeded with vigorous rub, then some details will be corroded or grinded by the polishers.

   So, if cleaning the coin is bad, why I did it? This is an experiment, so I want to see myself  what are the differences between cleaned coins and non-cleaned coins. In this case, I assume that cleaning coins is bad because of two major reason. First, it removes the lustre of the coins, particularly the high-graded coins. Second, it alters the looks of the coin, particularly old and rare coin. Collectors would like to keep a coin in their original state, whether it is in high-grade or low-grade.

    So, I guess it is okay to clean these coins because these coins are in low grade, not very rare and has lost all its lustre. And for the time being, it enhance the appearance of the coin.

    I cleaned these coins by using cotton-bud with Brasso, rubbing it onto the coins very gently with minimal forces are exerted onto the coins.

   So, as you can see in the images, the first two images (coin A and coin B) are the cleaned coins and the latter coin C and coin D are the uncleaned coin.

   What do you think of cleaning coin?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We never clean our coins unless left with no choice.

Unknown said...

You can try soaking in warm water with few drops of lemon juice for few hours,clean with soft brush.If the dirt is still cannot be removed,repeat the same process again and again!!ONLY APPLY TO COPPER-NICKEL LOW GRADE COINS!
NEVER USED ANY CLEANING AGENTS THAT ARE ABBRASIVE,CORROSIVE AND WITH CHEMICAL BASED!
It looked good now,few months later,the true colour and truth will prevail!! Be cautious!!

Unknown said...

cleaning coin was allow , this practise was very famous among the american. and the grading agency still graded the coin although it was washed.it only mention there "washed" . personally,i agree on cleaning the coin. but , my support is only "dipping". any rubbing or polishing is a bad habbit on cleaning the coin. rubing and polishing create small and tiny hairline on the field of the coin,hence,people say cleaning coin is not allow. but .dipping would only remove all the dirt on the coin.it wont harm the coin,and it wont create any tiny or small hairlines on the surface of coin,and the detailed wont get hurt.but of course. the solution use must not contain any acid or other things that can harm the coin. The coin that can wash must be those had lost the original luster, in a poor condition, any coin which still in unc but with a bad toning should not be clean. cleaning would only upgrade the appearance of the coin.IT WOULD NOT IMPROVED THE GARDE OF THE COIN, VF still VF. the same goes to copper coin. copper coin which had a dark toning and other substance that stick on the coin,it can DIP to remove the dark toning and the substance that stick on the coin.
cheers.

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