Cleaning copper pennies..

[Ralph in Albany NY]

I read somewhere that one of the best ways to clean early Lincolns and Indian pennies was with hydrogen peroxide. But cant remember the process. Any help??

 

[dewcon4414]

Boil the peroxide in a pan and put the pennies in it.... that simple. Another option is to clean them carefully with a Q-tip and soap and water then put them in olive oil. Also, COIN WORLD sells coin care which not only cleans them but coats them.

Dew

 

[Jaichim24]

get a microwave safe dish and nuke the peroxide to boiling. Much quicker!

 

[sangamon]

i repeat the process a few times and use a stiff nylon brush & a drop of dish soap to remove the residue

i will add that it works great most of the time, but not every time

p.s.- DO NOT PUT ANY METAL IN THE MICROWAVE!

 

[dewcon4414]

Ya the microwave ISNT the modern electralisis so i wouldnt recomment putting the pennies in it. To be honest for most of my pennies to include wheats i just tumble them. There are very few worth a ton of money or are collectible after being in the ground very long. Those IH's are the worst coins to do much with. I know some collectors use asitone ... but take caution when using these type chemicals for yourself not the coin. There are all kinds of options, baking soda, electrisis, null all, potatoes, CLR, vinegar, copper brush, WD 30, even PVC cleaner.... as you can see ive tried a few. However, if its truly collectible id suggest the peroxide with a Q-tip or coin care nothing more. Then just a small bit of olive oil to preserve it. Copper and bronze coins are tuff ones to clean and make look natural for collectors.

Dew

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

n/t

 

[sangamon]

with all Dew respect (pun intended):

i would discourage the use of olive oil; it is organic and will eventually break down (rot)...
instead, i will occasionally use a drop of machine oil, such as 3-in-One, to bring out a bit of lustre in an old coin

vinegar, potatoes, ketchup and lemon juice are all acidic, and will actually etch the coin & destroy the patina

 

[DirtFlipper]

I've used the heated hydrogen peroxide a lot, and have had pretty good results. But it can darken the coins a bit. More recently I've had good luck just using "Magic Eraser" (which is really just melamine foam). Takes a bit more elbow grease, but doesn't darken the coins. However, it doesn't work on all types of dirt or encrustation. But it does work really well for thick, caked on dirt. Magic Eraser is just those white foam sponges with Mr. Clean on the box. Get them wet and scrub.

Here's a pic of an IH I found earlier this year that I just used Magic Eraser on:
[attachment 146918 2009Apr18b003.jpg]
[attachment 146919 2009Apr18b009.jpg]

Here are some common Wheats with a quick before/after:
[attachment 146921 2009May19001.jpg]
[attachment 146922 2009May19007.jpg]

(I didn't spend a great deal of time on these, but you get the idea hopefully).

For the real stubborn stuff, I still use heated peroxide, but it will darken them.

Memorials go in the tumbler...

HH,
DirtFlipper

 

[beep stick]

easiest by FAR is to just rinse them in soapy water then tak them to coin star hahahahah let the coin star people worry about gettin them clean....saves you the time and trouble

 

[Larry (IL)]

I have to agree with Sangamon 100% on the organic oils. I don't know who started the olive oil thing, but that stuff really stinks when rotted and it does organically break down in short order when exposed to air. 3 in 1 is my choice to preserve and put shine back into a metal coin. If you have a handful of wheats to clean, any ole way will work, but when you have hundreds or thousands of them, the rock tumbler works best for me. I clean my cents with a brush and soap and water to get them reasonably clean when found so I can pick out the better dates. The rest I save and tumble them clean once a year. The grand kids are starting to get to that age when coin collecting might interest them and a jar full of wheats and Whitman books will keep them occupied for many hours.

 

[dewcon4414]

You didnt like the olive oil one huh? I was trying to give a lot of options. Im just not seeing tons of high dollar pennies coming out of the ground that are collectible. So like Larry i mostly use the tumbler... except for those exceptions. Most of those exceptions being bronze. Like Sangamon said if you use too much cleaning you will see etching of streaks on the coin or the coins will loose its features and you have to turn it sideways to read it.

Dew

 

[Jaichim24]

Another post peroxide option is to apply Renaissance Wax to the penny. This is the same material museums use to preserve metal items. Great stuff but expensive.

 

[digitrich]

Soon as they are rinsed, hit them with some canuba wax or a drop of olive oil on your index finger and thumb rubbed both sides lightly. If I don't do this, a week later my h2o2 coins look dry and crusty. With the wax and the oil they look warm, rich and healthy.

 

[sangamon]

Gary, lots of folks who are not you derive great pleasure from maintaining a set of coin folders to sort & collect our finds...even the lowly wheat cents!

 

[onemore]

n/t