I have been reading the forum for a while but this is my first post. Thanks you to everyone for what I have learned reading from the sidelines up till now. Here is my question: In my Dansco 7070 set I have chosen to include these two Dollars. They were given to me by my Mom from my grandpa’s coin collection. He had a handful of silver dollars that he polished with my grandmas silver polish from time to time when they tarnished. I do wish that they were never cleaned but I am amused by him polishing them... In their current state they have some dark tarnish in the deep grooves. I would like to clean them and then stow them away in the album. As is they have spotty fingerprints and funny contrast between the dark tarnish and shiny broad surfaces. What would a good method be to clean them knowing that they have already been cleaned per say, and we’re not worried about having them lose or gain value. I plan to keep these with my set indefinitely. Thanks for any ideas or thoughts. -Ben
First, silver tarnishes. It's a fact and we as collectors have to accept this fact as it will happen. Second, never clean coins. If you feel their value is worth submitting them to NCS for conservation, then let the pros do it. Last, these are worth melt and are common not worth doing anything but enjoying the character from their toning.
If you really want to clean them boil some water and while it's boiling put some baking soda in a bowl. Cut up some aluminum foil into small strips and also put them in the bowl. Pour the boiling water in the bowl, mix it up and then add a piece of foil that is roughly the bowl's bottom size and put in the coins making sure they are touching the foil. Just leave the coins in the bowl for five minutes or so then remove and rinse while gently rubbing them with your fingers to clean. If the coins have no value other than melt value which is their silver content value and are really dirty sometimes I'll use some baking soda on them and rub between fingers which will make them shine but would destroy any numismatic value. I don't clean any valuable numismatic coins this way but I do clean junk silver that's only worth melt anyways as my two daughters 5 & 3 like to help and find putting 'shiny' coins in their books much better than old dirty ones. Until their old enough to understand why we don't clean some coins I find sparking their interest in collecting far outweighs cleaning junk silver that has no value over melt anyway.
Most people will say not to clean them again and I agree. But if you just want them to be shiny and since they are only worth melt anyway, a quick dip in e-z-est wouldn't hurt a thing.
This was not that unusual. Cleaning was not frowned upon in the old days. And generally "shiny" means better, more attractive, and easier to sell. It's a wonder how anything made it through the past uncleaned.
Thank you for the responses. I understand that they should never have been in the first place. Their value is not in silver or numismatic qualities. The reason I asked in the first place was that I thought the shiny tarnish contrast was funny. I may try one of the ideas listed above. Once I get rid of the black fingerprints I will let them be forever so they can age normally and look less fake and shiny. I'm not at all an advocate for cleaning but this was sort of a strange situation. Thanks-
I agree with Doug. You should leave them alone. There is nothing that will make them better, but it will serve as constant reminder of what you shouldn't do to your coins. Chris
My thoughts exactly! If anything, carry them around in your pocket a while.Over time it will start to resemble normal wear, and it will double as a pocket piece.
And had anyone known in the old days that cleaning was not a wise thing to do, they probably wouldn't have done it
Right. But, there was no reason to believe it wouldn't be an acceptable practice into the future. No way to know. The hobby changed a lot. Used to be more basic in terms of grading and what was even available.
