Treasure Classifieds Forum

What is a good way to clean coins?

For my clad and copper coins I use a rock tumbler just to clean the dirt off of them to take to the bank coin machine. For the silver I use a little soap and warm water with a toothbrush.Old coppers /large cents I wash with warm water and soak in oliver oil for a time to bring out any details.If you go to youtube there are many ways people clean there finds.

I'm of the same cloth as BulletBob. I clean the clad as best I can and roll it and turn it over to the bank. I bought a vibratory tumbler and it really didn't work. I tried soaking them in CLR and that cleans them but also gives them a goldish appearance. And if you don't time it right it corrodes the clad that was in the ground the longest and really makes a mess of the detail. A plain old drum type rock tumbler is your best bet. And people use aquarium gravel and dishwasher soap (no suds) as a medium and it seems to work fine. I clean my silver coins with a toothbrush and good old fashioned white toothpaste and to give them a nice polish I thumb scrub them with the same then rub em with a good cotton terrycloth towel. They come out looking all bright and shiny like new. I wouldn't do that to any real old silver, like seated's or older because you may destroy the value in the process. Best to check the value of a coin first before you decide to clean it.

I wish our banks had coin machines but as usual it takes the Midwest ten years to catch up with either coastline!

Ed

My bank won't even take rolled coins anymore because they have a counter in the lobby. I guess it paid to put in the machine versus getting conned by people turning in bogus coin rolls. One of my friends has been turning in rolls with coins straight out of the ground for a couple years but they finally caught on to him.

I store them up in 3# coffee cans after tumbling for a few hours until I have a couple of cans worth. Close to a grand last year

I throw them in with my pocket change, then in coinstar.

(11-02-2014 09:27 PM)Dusty Wrote: [ -> ]My bank won't even take rolled coins anymore because they have a counter in the lobby. I guess it paid to put in the machine versus getting conned by people turning in bogus coin rolls. One of my friends has been turning in rolls with coins straight out of the ground for a couple years but they finally caught on to him.

I store them up in 3# coffee cans after tumbling for a few hours until I have a couple of cans worth. Close to a grand last year

Ha! That reminds me of a good story...

Years ago, I didn't realize the value of a tumbler. I would just rinse the coins off in water, then throw them in a jug. Well, once they dried, there was still dirt on them, as the water rinse can only do so much. And we're talking hundreds & hundreds of coins. A lot of dirt. So...

I bring them to the bank one day, and pour them in the change machine. I'm casually glancing around the bank, and in the corner of my eye, I see what looked like smoke coming out of the machine. I thought the damn thing was on fire. Turns out, it was the dirt/dust coming off the coins as they were being processed by the machine. Literally, I'm talking small plumes of dust. So much so, that one of the managers & a teller walks over to me to investigate. As they're approaching me, the machine malfunctions...totally shuts down. The teller looks at me and asks; "Sir, why is there smoke coming out of the machine?". I played dumb and said I haven't a clue. Next...

They manually open the machine (still not working), and are rifling through all my coins. More dust is flying all over the place, and both employee's hands are now filthy! The manager asks me; "Why are these coins so dirty?". I thought fast and told her that my son took my coin collection out in the yard and put them in our garden to play with. Both of the employee's looked REAL pissed. The teller then looks at me and says; "Well, thanks for breaking our machine. Next time you should clean your coins".

After a whole big (embarrassing) debacle, I wound up getting bills for my coins, and walked out of the bank with my tail between my legs, lol.

USE A TUMBLER

Joe

(11-02-2014 10:15 PM)NjNyDigger Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-02-2014 09:27 PM)Dusty Wrote: [ -> ]My bank won't even take rolled coins anymore because they have a counter in the lobby. I guess it paid to put in the machine versus getting conned by people turning in bogus coin rolls. One of my friends has been turning in rolls with coins straight out of the ground for a couple years but they finally caught on to him.

I store them up in 3# coffee cans after tumbling for a few hours until I have a couple of cans worth. Close to a grand last year

Ha! That reminds me of a good story...

Years ago, I didn't realize the value of a tumbler. I would just rinse the coins off in water, then throw them in a jug. Well, once they dried, there was still dirt on them, as the water rinse can only do so much. And we're talking hundreds & hundreds of coins. A lot of dirt. So...

I bring them to the bank one day, and pour them in the change machine. I'm casually glancing around the bank, and in the corner of my eye, I see what looked like smoke coming out of the machine. I thought the damn thing was on fire. Turns out, it was the dirt/dust coming off the coins as they were being processed by the machine. Literally, I'm talking small plumes of dust. So much so, that one of the managers & a teller walks over to me to investigate. As they're approaching me, the machine malfunctions...totally shuts down. The teller looks at me and asks; "Sir, why is there smoke coming out of the machine?". I played dumb and said I haven't a clue. Next...

They manually open the machine (still not working), and are rifling through all my coins. More dust is flying all over the place, and both employee's hands are now filthy! The manager asks me; "Why are these coins so dirty?". I thought fast and told her that my son took my coin collection out in the yard and put them in our garden to play with. Both of the employee's looked REAL pissed. The teller then looks at me and says; "Well, thanks for breaking our machine. Next time you should clean your coins".

After a whole big (embarrassing) debacle, I wound up getting bills for my coins, and walked out of the bank with my tail between my legs, lol.

USE A TUMBLER

Joe

Should have just said you though laundering money was illegal.

(11-02-2014 11:09 PM)jkeefer Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-02-2014 10:15 PM)NjNyDigger Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-02-2014 09:27 PM)Dusty Wrote: [ -> ]My bank won't even take rolled coins anymore because they have a counter in the lobby. I guess it paid to put in the machine versus getting conned by people turning in bogus coin rolls. One of my friends has been turning in rolls with coins straight out of the ground for a couple years but they finally caught on to him.

I store them up in 3# coffee cans after tumbling for a few hours until I have a couple of cans worth. Close to a grand last year

Ha! That reminds me of a good story...

Years ago, I didn't realize the value of a tumbler. I would just rinse the coins off in water, then throw them in a jug. Well, once they dried, there was still dirt on them, as the water rinse can only do so much. And we're talking hundreds & hundreds of coins. A lot of dirt. So...

I bring them to the bank one day, and pour them in the change machine. I'm casually glancing around the bank, and in the corner of my eye, I see what looked like smoke coming out of the machine. I thought the damn thing was on fire. Turns out, it was the dirt/dust coming off the coins as they were being processed by the machine. Literally, I'm talking small plumes of dust. So much so, that one of the managers & a teller walks over to me to investigate. As they're approaching me, the machine malfunctions...totally shuts down. The teller looks at me and asks; "Sir, why is there smoke coming out of the machine?". I played dumb and said I haven't a clue. Next...

They manually open the machine (still not working), and are rifling through all my coins. More dust is flying all over the place, and both employee's hands are now filthy! The manager asks me; "Why are these coins so dirty?". I thought fast and told her that my son took my coin collection out in the yard and put them in our garden to play with. Both of the employee's looked REAL pissed. The teller then looks at me and says; "Well, thanks for breaking our machine. Next time you should clean your coins".

After a whole big (embarrassing) debacle, I wound up getting bills for my coins, and walked out of the bank with my tail between my legs, lol.

USE A TUMBLER

Joe

Should have just said you though laundering money was illegal.

Holly Smokes (all puns intended) that is to funny to bad wasn't caught on tape could have been $10,000 AFV clip..