Can you use vinegar on circulated pennies? Should I even clean them all? Can any other household products work well for cleaning, and help the coin retain or increase its value?
you will hear "dont clean your coins" a lot on hear. it'll do more harm than good. i guess it depends on the coin. if you just want a clean penny to put in your whitman, go for it, i used coke for that. if you leave a penny in vinigar to long, it will corode it pretty bad, if you do use vinegar, keep an eye on it. i tried it and i think it only took a couple minutes. good luck mike
Clean as in remove the metal and ruin the coin from a collector's stand point it does very well. Vinegar is a fairly strong acid and just eats metal right up.
I remeber as a kid using vinegar and iodized salt to clean pennies. It would work in a matter of seconds, just dip and swirl then rinse, but it would give the pennies a wierd pink color that would fade in a day or two. By the way, I do not recommend doing this to your coins.
Use ketchup to clean it. Do each side one at a time or dump it in a glass for about 5 mins each side or if you’re using a glass then 5 mins for the whole thing.
Look at the ingredients of ketchup and tell me just how much vinegar there is in it. If you insist on cleaning, DI water or maybe acetone for PVC. You will find numerous threads stating the ame thing all over this and other forums.
I know ketchup has some vinegar in it but it doesn’t say the percent. I said to use ketchup so you don’t over do it with vinegar.
Vinegar is an acid as stated. Acid + coins = BAD. I admit that I use vinegar on coins occasionally. Dateless buffalo nickels actually as it has the same effect of Nic-A-Date on a buffalo just takes longer. Use vinegar in salads, pickling, window cleaning etc. Coke. My grandfather used to toss rusted bolts and the like in Coke to clean off the corrosion. Tell you anything about Coke? Many moons ago I started a thread about a cleaner called Blue Ribbon. Removes dirt and leaves a "coating". Seems it has some nasty chemicals in it but I'll tell you this. One can use it as directed and still get a coin slabbed by the big TPGs. It will NOT remove corrosion, it will NOT remove fingerprints it only lifts dirt and the effects over many years could indeed be harmful. Bottom line - stay away from cleaning whenever possible and sure as heck stay away from harsh materials like vinegar and Coke. A coin is what it is.
For those interested in cleaning their coins, check this thread out. http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t45751/
From what I remember from Chem, Vinegar is actually a Base not an Acid. On the Ph scale neutral is 7.0 anything higher is a base, lower is an acid. Acids and bases can neutralize each other which is why you add acid to your pool if the Ph is too high from the chlorine which is a base. Both acids and bases can burn your skin and are harmful to coins.
Vinegar = ascetic acid. It is about as strong an acid as there is of the organic acids. Vinegar will have a pH of less than 2.5
yes you are correct, maybe why i got a 65 in chem. I think coca-cola has a similar ph which is why some people place pennies in it to "shine" them
The last coin I would even attempt to clean is a copper one. If you really want to make a penny red again, dip them in soldering flux. They look dull and ugly as a Studebaker when you are finished.
Fingerprints, if placed on a coin more than few days ago (and even that may be too long) cannot be removed. The oil in your skin that creates the fingerprint contains a mild acid. This acid actually eats into the surface of the coin. It's just as if you took a sharp pointed metal object and carved your fingerprint into the metal. That's why fingferprints cannot be removed. Now, if the acid on your fingers is harsh enough to actually eat into the metal of the coin - just imagine what vinegar, ketchup, hot sauce, lemon juice or anything of the kind can do to a coin.
As long as this thread has the nice pH scale, please notice the "Freshly distilled water" at neutral pH of 7 compared to rain water in equilibrium with CO2 in air at 5.6 ( acidic). Distilled water in bottles that are partially filled (and small amounts are used at a time) will tend to go from pH of 7 towards the pH of 5.6 or so. That is why final rinsing with distilled water is questionable. If a person wants to do so, fill small airtight glass bottles to the top with distilled water and make each a "single use" bottle. IMO. Jim
Haven't had a cola drink in 60 years, since my high school chem teacher cooked a piece of meat in a dish of that nasty Coke stuff!
