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It is never a good idea to clean a coin, unless you seek a well known professional service. A coin that is cleaned will drop in value to its respective grade no matter how rare it is. All household products are extremely harmful to a coins surface. Most collectors of valuable coins would rather have the darkness of the coin, since this will generally be a sign that the coin is in its natural state.
Many coins are cleaned to make them appear to be in a higher grade. Lincoln cents are especially prone to cleaning since some of the earlier dates rise dramatically in value in uncirculated condition. The problem with Lincoln cents dated before 1920 is that they are not all struck with the highest releif on the designs. Consequently, there are many early dated Brilliant Uncirculated Lincoln cents that have been weakly struck.
Thanks to the original copper sheen on the surface of the originally minted Lincoln cent, there is no known process of cleaning it without causing a dullish looking appearance.
Another process that is used to clean coins, both copper and silver is called whizzing. Whizzing is a process that uses high pressure water and a brush in a swirling motion to clean the coin. Coins that have been celaned using this process are easily detected with a 10x magnifying glass. The tiny scratches are usually not seen with the naked eye, however, when looking under a 10x glass the scratches are easily detected. No coins are going to endure hundreds of fine scratches in a swirlwing arrangement.
Silver coins that have been cleaned are usually dull and sometimes the toning is left around the finer details of the coin. For example, look out for older silver coins that have a flat dull looking surface with blackish color around the small stars or other details in the coin. These coins are most likely cleaned.
There is a process of cleaning silver coins that is called dipping. Dipping is generally accepted between collectors, since the only effect is the removal of surface yellowing or browning on uncirculated coins. The dipping solution was invented by a chemist that developed the process. Even so, a reside is left on the surface of the coin and it can be detected by major encapsulation services.
If you find this guide helpful you may want to purchase our coin book written by us as 30 year collectors and members of the American Numismatic Asociation. We have access to all ANA films and written works which makes us the best on eBay. To purchase this guide on eBay send us a note at smccoins@aol.com. If you have a question about a coin and want us to look at a photograph feel free to send it to us.
Take a look at this coin. Has it been cleaned? SMCcoins purchased this coin on line as an example of cleaned coin. If you look carefully you can see the tiny, fine lined scratches which are a tell all sign that this coin was cleaned. We spent $12 on this one just ot show you a good example of a hard to tell coin cleaning process.
Stan, ANA
Like this guide? You can purchase a US Coin Guide of the History, Grading and Coin Values from SMCcoins authors of ANA articles in Numismatic magazine on eBay.
Many coins are cleaned to make them appear to be in a higher grade. Lincoln cents are especially prone to cleaning since some of the earlier dates rise dramatically in value in uncirculated condition. The problem with Lincoln cents dated before 1920 is that they are not all struck with the highest releif on the designs. Consequently, there are many early dated Brilliant Uncirculated Lincoln cents that have been weakly struck.
Thanks to the original copper sheen on the surface of the originally minted Lincoln cent, there is no known process of cleaning it without causing a dullish looking appearance.
Another process that is used to clean coins, both copper and silver is called whizzing. Whizzing is a process that uses high pressure water and a brush in a swirling motion to clean the coin. Coins that have been celaned using this process are easily detected with a 10x magnifying glass. The tiny scratches are usually not seen with the naked eye, however, when looking under a 10x glass the scratches are easily detected. No coins are going to endure hundreds of fine scratches in a swirlwing arrangement.
Silver coins that have been cleaned are usually dull and sometimes the toning is left around the finer details of the coin. For example, look out for older silver coins that have a flat dull looking surface with blackish color around the small stars or other details in the coin. These coins are most likely cleaned.
There is a process of cleaning silver coins that is called dipping. Dipping is generally accepted between collectors, since the only effect is the removal of surface yellowing or browning on uncirculated coins. The dipping solution was invented by a chemist that developed the process. Even so, a reside is left on the surface of the coin and it can be detected by major encapsulation services.
If you find this guide helpful you may want to purchase our coin book written by us as 30 year collectors and members of the American Numismatic Asociation. We have access to all ANA films and written works which makes us the best on eBay. To purchase this guide on eBay send us a note at smccoins@aol.com. If you have a question about a coin and want us to look at a photograph feel free to send it to us.
Take a look at this coin. Has it been cleaned? SMCcoins purchased this coin on line as an example of cleaned coin. If you look carefully you can see the tiny, fine lined scratches which are a tell all sign that this coin was cleaned. We spent $12 on this one just ot show you a good example of a hard to tell coin cleaning process.
Stan, ANA
Like this guide? You can purchase a US Coin Guide of the History, Grading and Coin Values from SMCcoins authors of ANA articles in Numismatic magazine on eBay.
Guide created: 07/04/06 (updated 07/15/08)
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