Who am I?  What do I know?

Well, I am a coin dealer, and have been for 25 years this November.

I know something about coins..... I can't fix my car, and couldn't train a horse....But coins....CAN DO.

So with that out of the way.  I have been dealing in coins for quite a while, collected as a kid (still am)  Kid and collector.

I have been a wholesale coin dealer, until recently opening a retail store in North Idaho.  Most wholesale folks, and seasoned collectors know not to clean their coins.  But I have found that the general public needs help. 

Now that we have been on ebay for a couple of years, and have dealt with thousands of great coin folks, I thought I'd throw in my......here is comes.............Two Cents.

If you had an antique table, and it had some "stains" on it, you could strip the finish and re-stain it.... now you would have a "new" antique.   And the folks at the Antique Roadshow would pooh-pooh you, and tell you that your wonderful piece would have been worth $30,000... but with the lovely "refinish" that you have done,  should bring around $300 bucks at auction.

Coins are the same way, and you can greatly diminish the value by trying to "fix" them.

On another note, some antiques can actually be improved with some cleaning... however this should only be done by Da Vinci, or a specialist.

So if you feel you have a coin that MUST be cleaned, or fixed, or dipped.   PLEASE go to someone with experience in the field, and have them help you.  The coin you save.....could be your own!

Thanks, Happy Collecting.....See you on eBay!

Kevin Mitchell

coiNuts