OmniCoin.com :: Truth About Cleaning Coins

Truth About Cleaning Coins

I DIDN’T MEAN TO TELL A FIB.

When it comes to coin cleaning there are about twenty different schools of thought, and every pupil seems to have a strong opinion. I expect that this report will stimulate lots of correspondence from those who don’t agree with my version of the “truth”

BETTER COINS THROUGH CHEMISTRY.

Can you describe a cleaned coin for me? Is a coin which was immersed in soap and water to remove some surface dirt now cleaned? Is removing PVC contamination from a coin, with a product designed for this purpose, the same as cleaning? Is dipping a coin in liquid tarnish remover as good as cleaning it? Is scrubbing the surfaces of a coin with a soft brush cleaning, or does it depend whether the bristles of the brush are made of camel hair or brass?

LET’S PUT THE ARMS BACK ON VENUS.

As coin collectors, we should all realize that while we may, in a legal sense, own the coins in our collections, we are actually just custodians. The proper thing for us to do is carefully preserve these treasures with the intention of passing them along to future generations in the same state that we found them. There is nothing to be gained by leaving traces of our ownership on the pieces, especially fingerprints on copper and bronze coins. Let the next guy use a toothpick to dig the dirt out from around the lettering. Leave dipping off the black toning streak to the next owner. Sadly this isn’t going to happen. Collectors have been messing around with coins for centuries. If they are not boiling ancient coins in oil or acid to remove encrustation, they are picking and prodding away at the surfaces of modern coins to remove carbon spots or scratches. I see collectors of copper coins brushing and oiling their treasures. The dealer who must make ten trips a day to his hotel room may not have weak kidneys, he just needs to dip a new purchase before offering it to the next customer. “I’ve never seen a coin I couldn’t improve,” seems to be a popular motto among coin collectors and dealers.

SCRUBBING FOR DOLLARS

I would suggest that most coins are cleaned or otherwise doctored to make them more saleable. If a darkly toned coin, which was covered with decades of accumulated grime, was worth as much, and as easily sold, as a bright and shiny piece then there would be little incentive to clean it.

Certainly among non-collectors the understanding is that bright and new looking coins are worth more than dirty and dull ones. Most dealers could tell many horror stories about selling customers who polished and buffed thousands of dollars in value off the surfaces of their coins because they thought that the dealer would pay more for clean looking coins.

For as long as I have been involved in the coin business, collectors and investors have been demanding fully brilliant, untoned coins. I have personally seen numerous times when a coin which was toned could not be sold. Once the piece was dipped, and restored to its former mint brilliance, it attracted the attention of several interested buyers. If everyone wants bright coins what is the dealer and selling collector to do? Would you rather be a pious protector of coins, or is it more practical to dip a few pieces and perhaps in doing so, put thousands of extra dollars in your pocket? I know of one recent case where a heavily toned coin was encapsulated in a MS-65 grading service holder. A dealer “cracked” the coin from the container, dipped the piece, and resubmitted it for grading. This time the coin was returned to him graded MS-68!

DOES A FALLING TREE MAKE A NOISE IN NO ONE IS AROUND TO HEAR IT?

Does it matter if a coin has been cleaned if no one can detect it? Can I positively tell the difference between a coin, which is originally brilliant, and one that has been dipped? The answer must be no. Certainly some coins, which have had a “bath”, are detectable and others may be suspicious, but if a dipped coin could be instantly recognized then they would not be so readily accepted in the marketplace. Obviously the majority of dealers and collectors don’t consider dipping, when done properly, to be wrong. If dipped coins were generally considered to be cleaned then the practice would have ceased long ago.

WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE?

To make a list of all the things that might be done to coins to clean, as well as preserve them, would require pages of space. To debate whether sealing coins in wax, painting the surfaces with lacquer, or coating copper and bronze coins with silicone should be considered acceptable would be a useless exercise. What might be more constructive is to determine which types of chemical enhancement materially alter the appearance of the coin and if the reason for doing something to the coin is to deceive for profit.

THERE IS NO GOING BACK.

Not having been there, I can’t say for sure, but it is my understanding that old time collectors, that is those who were active in the hobby prior to World War II, were not nearly as concerned, as we are today, about whether a coin looked as though it had just dropped from the dies. Likewise, they were generally less worried about the technical grade of coins. This is not to say that these collectors did not appreciated quality, but rather that they were unwilling to pay huge premiums for slight difference in condition, or for mint brilliant pieces. Pricing guides listed values for coins that were uncirculated, nothing more. Along came the investor and the notion that perhaps it would be best to value uncirculated coins in two ways, those which were just uncirculated and those which were Brilliant Uncirculated. It’s a shame that instead of BU, those involved in numismatics at the time didn’t decide on BT. If beautifully toned coins had been the pieces to command a premium, instead of brilliant ones, the coins we collect today might look very different.

Dealers and collectors readily adapted to these changes. It was a simple matter to increase the value of one’s collection or inventory by removing tarnish. Why on earth would I sell my uncirculated Barber half dollar for $15 when in a matter of seconds I could convert it to a BU coin that is worth $20?

As I’ve already mentioned, early collectors and dealers have always played around with and doctored coins, but in the old days the real money was made by producing outright forgeries. Copies of coins, some very deceptive and others quite crude were far more prevalent than they are today. Dates on coins were changed. The surfaces were tooled and reengraved to give the coin the appearance of being a higher grade. Mintmarks were added or deleted. At the time, any 1916 Mercury dime, with an added D mintmark was worth more than a superb example of the Philadelphia Mint issue. Today this is not the case. A 1916-D Mercury dime in Good condition is worth around $325. A 1916, without the magic mintmark, in MS-67, forgetting about how well it may have been struck, will probably cost $525. What has happened? Have circulated examples of 1916-D Mercury dimes become more plentiful over the years, or has the collector’s and investor’s preoccupation with perfection revised the way we value coins?

As our nation’s early currency warned, “To Counterfeit is Death”. None of the notes said, “Don’t wash and starch me.”

As counterfeit detection methods improved, and this information became available to collectors, those who had been making money in the risky reproduction market wisely decided that it was much safer to clean up their act and start doctoring coins. The money was just as good, and the chances of getting caught and led off to the slammer were slim.

IS IT A CRIME TO CLEAN?

I don’t know of anyone who has gone to jail or was put on probation after having been caught with his or her fingers in the dip. Should the fine for “cloroxing” a coin be $50 for each offense? There probably is some catchall law that could be used to punish those who make EF and AU coins appear to be uncirculated. Based on all that has happened in the past, I don’t think the coin doctors run much risk of facing a jail term or stiff fines.

I know of one very skilled individual who repairs damaged coins. He fills holes, removes deep cuts and rim nicks, restores missing letters and fixes dates. In my opinion, his work benefits the hobby and is no different than restoring an old car or home. Were he to start adding mintmarks, and he certainly has the skill required to do it, I would think differently. The coins he repairs are represented as such. He describes what has been done to the coin. When he does this type of work for others he carefully selects his clients. I know that he has refused business from those who seem to have a memory lapse when it comes to mentioning that what they were selling was repaired. Will a coin still be recognized as having been restored once it has changed hands a dozen times?

Another fellow is a master when it comes to artificially toning coins. If he wanted it to be, his work could be very deceptive. Like the person who does repairs, it is my understanding that this fellow makes it clear to every purchaser that the color has been added and he charges nothing extra for his “Paint Jobs”. His colorful creations are so distinctive and beautiful that it is difficult to confuse them with the real thing. His work is often better than nature could do! Will everyone who ever comes in contact with one of these coins know who toned it?

DO SOME COINS DESERVE TO BE CLEANED?

Is soaking a bit of growing green goop off the surface of a Large cent any different than wiping the flyspecks from an Old Master painting? Should coins recovered from the sea be left encrusted with coral or is it okay to remove this stuff? Many collectors of copper and bronze coins use a silicone-based oil to coat the surfaces of their coins. This material, as far as I know, will not harm the surface of the coin. After treatment the pieces generally have a pleasant, glossy appearance. Once coated, the coins are more resistant to damage from the environment. Spots should not form because corrosive matter cannot attack the surface.

Not too many years ago, certain types of plastic coin storage pages oozed an oily green slime as they aged. This material attached itself to the surface of the coins and began to lunch on them. Previously lustrous pieces were forever dulled. Is it right to clean this stuff off the coins or should we just consider it a natural disaster?

I once purchased a collection of Morgan Dollars that had been taped in an album. Each coin had been brilliant when stored. Where there was no tape the coins had toned. After removing the tape and the sticky residue it left behind, I was the proud owner of a bunch of coins which were covered with a very unattractive crazy quilt design of brilliant and toned blotches. Should I have left them that way?

Another collection which I was offered, but did not buy, was a group of coins which had been mounted on a board with three nails holding each coin in place at the edges. The nails had rusted and the portion of the coins which touched them had a black toning while the rest of the coin was more lightly colored. The reverses of the pieces were nearly brilliant. Should these pieces have also been left as is?

YOU ALWAYS HURT THE ONE YOU LOVE.

Coin collectors have historically been hard on the objects they cherish. Some early collectors defaced coins by stamping their initials, seal, or crest, into the surfaces. Coins were often stored in wooden cabinets that allowed air and moisture, as well as chemicals from the wood and tray lining to work on the unprotected surface of the coins. Another popular way to store coins was in paper envelopes. Some of the less expensive versions were made with traces of sulphur in the paper and the surfaces of the envelopes were anything but smooth. Cardboard holders, lined with cellophane or a like material, which facilitated viewing of the piece, were held together by staples. Many a coin has been damaged when being removed from this type of holder and the sharp leg of a staple was accidentally dragged across the surface. I’ve already mentioned that thousands of coins were eaten alive by PVC laden storage pages. Many best selling coin storage albums have clear plastic slides which look harmless enough, but do a dandy job of adding hairline scratches. Even careful numismatists have accidentally dropped coins or touched them with their oily fingers. It’s a wonder that there are any coins left that are worth collecting!

TONING TALK.

Most of the tarnished coins I have seen are not beautifully toned. For every piece that has dazzling rainbow colors there are thousands, which have acquired toning that ranges from typical golden brown to dirty looking gray and black. What constitutes beautiful toning seems to vary tremendously from one collector to the next, but I think most of us would agree that a pleasant, light colored toning, which hides nothing, can make a coin more desirable and thus often worth more. Just as each coin is unique because of the arrangement of marks, degree of strike, and other factors, no two coins ever acquire exactly the same type of toning. This includes coins of the same type stored for long periods of time in the same environment. Attractive toning seems to make a coin that much more special and unique.

WHAT’S REAL TONING?

I once worked in a coin shop where the sun shone into our display area for the majority of the day. In one display we decided to show off a group of loose Morgan dollars. These coins were placed on a velvet pad. After several weeks we noticed that the obverse of each of these coins was beginning to acquire some light golden color. The coin which was nearest the light fixture inside the case seemed to be gaining color the fastest. In less than two months, most of the coins had turned an attractive blue-green and rose-gold color. We turned the coins over and allowed the reverse to acquire the same pleasant patina. Could we be accused of artificially toning coins, or had we just given nature a helping hand? Should beautifully toned coins only be considered original if it happens entirely by accident?

I would suggest that the majority of beautifully toned modern coins, that being pieces less than 200 years old, got that way after they were in the possession of collectors. I have purchased a number of collections which were stored in brown paper envelopes. Many of the coins had very similar toning. Careful examination of the coins indicated to me they had been brilliant when first put in the paper pouches. The laminated paper in another popular type of coin storage system would often produce halo toning in a rainbow of colors on coins that were obviously brilliant when first placed in the albums. I have seldom seen coins that gained beautiful toning when stored for long periods of time in a leather purse, tobacco tin, or behind a rock in the cellar. Most beautifully toned Morgan dollars have quite the same type of coloration and appear to have been stored for long periods of time in original mint bags. I would bet that more than one collector has placed a few coins on a sunny windowsill or wrapped pieces in sulphur laden paper hoping that the coins would take on some attractive toning.

Perhaps deciding if toning is genuine or artificial depends on how long it took for the coin to acquire the tarnish? Few of us would consider a coin which has been dipped in or sprayed with chemicals to be naturally toned. Baking or frying a coin in oil or inside a vegetable for several hours is not how coins naturally tone. What if a coin “accidentally” got placed on some damp cardboard and sat next to a radiator or wood stove for three or four months? Would the coins pleasant steel blue and rose toning be true or false?

Is it possible for an experienced numismatist to be fooled by artificial toning? The answer is yes. One of the major faults I find with the three dominant grading services is their occasional inability to detect original toning. Having submitted coins from old time collections, I know for a fact that the pieces toned naturally but the grading services called the coloration artificial. I guess they figure it is better to be conservative in this regard since they get to keep the grading fee even if they chose not to grade and encapsulate the coin.

My comments to this point have to do with what might be termed “good toning” be it original or artificial. Like cleaning, if the toning is attractive perhaps it really doesn’t matter how it got on the coin? In other cases, coins have been heavily treated with sulphur, photographic developing chemicals and the like. Household liquid bleach can turn coins vivid shades of blue and green but a coin treated in this manner is often blue-black in color. All three of the methods I have mentioned do permanent damage to the surface of the coins.

Artificial toning may not be added to the surface of a coin to make it more attractive and desirable, but rather to hide defects on the surface. Medium to deep toning can hide hairline scratches or worse. Artificial toning can also be used to hide the fact that a coin has been cleaned. Adding color after cleaning is quite a common practice.

The only way I know to learn about artificial toning is to examine lots of toned coins. Certain types and denominations of coins tend to have typical type of toning. While I have seen Bust half dollars with light golden or rainbow coloration, the typical color for these pieces tends to be somewhat gray. When I see examples, which vary from this color, I spend more time studying them. Modern Government Issue mint sets from the forties and fifties were shipped to collectors in cheap cardboard holders with a green paper flap. Because of the packaging, the coins from these sets often have deep golden and mottled toning which is generally considered unattractive. Proof Trade dollars often have deep blue-gray toning, sometimes mixed with iridescent highlights. Proof Morgan dollars are often deeply toned with a gray to black coloration. Matte proof Lincoln cents can, many times, be found with vivid violet and blue-green hues. Buffalo nickels can come in lots of different colors, but light to medium gold toning seems to be the dominant hue. Because of the way that they were stored, or shipped to collectors, Silver Commemoratives of each type tend to have the same sort of toning. I won’t continue with this list because, as I mentioned, the best way to learn to recognize genuine toning is to examine many coins first hand. As a general rule, when I see a coin which has coloration that is unusual for the issue I become suspicious, while keeping in mind that there can be exceptions to most every rule. When toning appears too good to be true, chances are good that it is false.

ARE TONED COINS WORTH A PREMIUM?

Since what is beautiful toning and what is not tends to be a highly subjective matter, I would suggest that deciding if a coin with pretty colors is worth more is really up to you. Certainly there are magnificently toned pieces that rival works of art when it comes to coloration and eye appeal. Such coins are highly desirable and were at one time in greater demand than they are today. Bright white is currently the most fashionable color among the majority of collectors.

JUST ASKING FOR TROUBLE!

At the risk of helping to create more coin doctors, I would suggest that you can learn a great deal about coin cleaning, and toning, if you do some yourself. If you do any of what I am about to describe please keep in mind that you are totally on your own. My advice is to stop reading and skip to the next topic. If you insist on reading this then please check with your spouse and get permission to continue. We don’t want some innocent bystander taking a bite out of a baked potato that you were cooking a half-dime in! Seriously, if you are a young reader, please get your parents permission before fooling around with this stuff. If you’re not a young reader, and would like to live to be an even older reader, then please use common sense.

The first things you’re going to need are some guinea pig coins. Sort through your piggy bank and find a few Lincoln cents minted prior to 1982. If you’ve stashed away some silver coins, select a few of those. Uncirculated ones would be best. Please understand that we are going to destroy these coins so don’t use anything that is more valuable then pocket change or coins whose only value is based on the silver content. If you experiment with a good coin from your collection then you are being foolish!

Now that you have some coins to sacrifice, it’s time to gather the equipment and chemicals. You will need at least two small glass bowls and a pair of rubber gloves. The gloves that you use when doing dishes or cleaning the oven will work just fine.

From your local coin shop you may be able to acquire a small jar of liquid silver coin cleaner. Don’t buy the gallon jug, you won’t be needing it! Most coin dealers will know what you want if you just ask for a bottle of “dip”. If the coins shop doesn’t sell this stuff then head to the grocery store, that’s our next stop anyway. You should find some brand of liquid silver cleaner on the shelf about five feet from the drain unclogger. Don’t buy paste! We are not going to be polishing silverware but cleaning coins! Next buy a small box of baking soda and a like size container of liquid laundry bleach. In the drug and cosmetic section of a modern grocery store you will find, after some searching, powered sulphur. You may have to ask for it. Expect to get some strange looks from the check out person. If they ask if you are making a bomb tell them the truth, but under no circumstance should you mention my name.

One chemical that I haven’t mentioned, and cannot suggest that you use, because prolonged exposure may cause your kidneys to stop working, is called acetone. This highly flammable, and fast evaporating liquid is great for removing dirt, glue, tape and other residue from coins. With the exception of some copper and bronze coins, acetone will not change the color of the coin or remove any toning or patina from the surface. It’s excellent for removing substances from circulated coins.

Acetone is also readily absorbed by the skin and using it with rubber gloves doesn’t work because it will melt the fingers off. If I haven’t already made myself clear, acetone is powerful stuff.

Gather up you “groceries” and your test coins and move to a well-ventilated room. The second best choice is a bathroom that has a vent fan. The first choice is a picnic table in the back yard. Remember to hook up a garden hose and have it close by.

Pour an ounce or so of your dip into a glass bowl. Before you drop it in the dip, carefully examine the color of one of your Lincoln cents. Give the coin a bath in the chemical. Notice how the color changes. Most of the time the surfaces of a copper coin will turn bright, almost orange, in color. You have destroyed your first coin. Any mint bloom or luster that remained on the coin is now gone. The surfaces should have a much too uniform color that is not at all pleasing to the eye. Rinse the coin in water and thoroughly dry it with some paper towel. Pour the used dip down the drain or on that patch of poison ivy that you’ve never been able to get rid of.

Copper and bronze coins are seldom improved by any sort of cleaning. I know of only one person who seems to be able to positively enhance their surfaces. The problem with his work is that, regardless of what they may be, the coins turn out very much the same and thus have his “signature”. This seems to be an inherent problem among the coin doctors. Once they hit on a cleaning or retoning method the production seldom varies. The result seems to be like a series of Frankenstein’s that are perfectly normal, save for the fact that they all have three eyes.

For our next experiment we will need a small amount of motor oil, regular household oil, like you might use on hinges, or some petroleum jelly. Any of these will do as all we are looking for is a carrier. Put a small amount of the oil or other stuff on a piece of paper towel and then add just a dash of the powered sulphur. Rub this mixture together in order to spread the sulphur over the oil. Rub this substance over the surfaces of the Lincoln cent that we cleaned. Really rub the coin, adding more oil and sulphur as necessary. The oxidation caused by the sulphur is speeded by the heat generated from friction. Is your copper coin beginning to retone? The more you rub the darker the piece should become. In time, assuming you have applied enough sulphur, the coin will turn black and this oxidation can be rubbed off with your fingers. It is this fact that makes retoning copper and bronze coins with sulphur a crude method. The professional coin doctors may use a tiny amount of sulphur or used motor oil which contains some chemicals that will darken copper coins. Placing an oiled coin directly on or near a 75 watt, or higher, power light bulb is a somewhat subtler approach.

Coin doctors have been experimenting for years with a variety of chemicals and substances ranging from common to the bizarre to come up with a way to restore mint red color to copper and bronze coins. Since the value of these coins is often based on the amount of mint redness, developing an undetectable way to tone them would be as good as learning how to make gold out of granite.

I would suggest that the three major grading services are very skilled at detecting cleaned or retoned copper and bronze coins. I would advise against buying mint red, or nearly so, copper or bronze coins unless you are very experienced with these issues or they are housed in third party grading service holders. Should you encounter a “raw” coin of this type and are not positive that the color is original, you may wish to make an arrangement with the seller to have the piece examined by one of the grading services.

Back to the lab. Hopefully, among your group of test silver coins you will have an uncirculated example that has at least slight toning. Actually the more toning the better. We are about to perform the perfect dip. Carefully examine the surfaces of your toned silver coin with a magnifying glass. Pay particular attention to the reflective qualities of the luster. Pour a small amount of dip into a clean glass bowl. Fill another bowl about a third full with water and add a tablespoon or so of baking soda. The measurement need not be exact. Drop the tarnished silver coin into the dip. If the toning is slight this color should instantly disappear. The heavier the toning the longer it will take for the dip to remove it from the surface. Remove the now bright coin from the dip and rinse it under a stream of cold water. Rinse the piece until it would seem impossible that any dip could be left of the surfaces, then rinse it a while longer. Place the coin in the bowl of baking soda and water. After a few seconds remove the coin and repeat the rinsing process. Pat the coin dry with a soft cloth. Don’t rub the surfaces. Examine the coin again. You should notice that the luster was in no way altered by the dipping. All that is missing is the tarnish.

Keeping in mind that I am not a chemist, the following explanation may seem a bit crude. It is my understanding that tarnish or toning is very much like rust on iron or steel. Some coins seem to acquire a certain amount of toning and then the process stops. The color may remain the same for many years. Coins which are very deeply toned may not “come clean” in the dipping process because the toning has eaten into the surface. This seems to be especially true with deeply toned proofs. Coming out of the dip these coins have a dull gray or white granular surface. In my opinion, they are ruined. While my explanation of how to dip coins may seem very simple I would strongly suggest that you DON’T DIP ANYTHING! As I have mentioned, certain coins can be ruined by this process.

I was so anxious to warn you not to dip any coins that I forgot to mention the purpose of the baking soda and water mixture! Take the dip you used on the tarnished silver coin and dump it in the baking soda bowl. Is this brew of chemicals starting to fizz? The baking soda neutralizes the dip and is an excellent way to make certain no dip residue remains on the coin.

Perform the same dipping experiment with a circulated silver coin. Dip also will make circulated pieces bright, but is only a tarnish remover, not a luster restorer. Circulated coins which have been dipped often appear to have been cleaned. The bright and sterile looking surfaces seem out of place on a coin that is worn. It is generally not a good idea to dip circulated coins unless they have unattractive toning spots or otherwise ugly surfaces.

As with trying to restore mint red color to copper and bronze coins, discovering a way to put mint luster back is a great challenge for the coin doctors. Imagine that mint luster,

that is the original surface appearance of a freshly minted coin, is like a very thin and reflective film. Even slight friction wears away a portion of this film and the coin is left with two different types of surfaces that reflect light in a different way. The surface of the coin is dull where the wear has occurred. This difference is often very apparent on fully brilliant coins. Toning can sometimes obscure the slight wear. Could a substance or a process, other than artificial toning, be used to restore the thin film of luster where it has been worn away? Hopefully nobody has figured out a way to do this? The coin doctor who wants to eliminate the two different appearances on the surface has but one choice and that is to remove all of the remaining original lustre. This can be done by buffing or polishing the surfaces to a uniform sheen. The contrast between the wear points and the rest of the coin’s surface are gone, and so is much of the value.

Back in the lab, select the uncirculated coin that you have dipped. Mix a small amount of water with baking soda to form a thin paste. Vigorously rub the surfaces of the coin with this abrasive material. After a minute or two the coin will still be bright and shiny, perhaps even brighter looking than before, but the mint luster will have been ground away.

The coin doctors who want to make circulated coins appear to be new probably don’t fool around with a common cleanser like baking soda. Some set up production lines that use buffing wheels with special polishing compounds and other “magic” substances, including powerful acids, epoxy resins and the like. Some of the professional coin cleaners will leave their products brilliant and others will add some artificial toning. Some of this professional work is quite deceptive and difficult to detect especially when your vision is clouded by the apparent bargain prices at which these coins are often sold.

Put some of the liquid laundry bleach into one of your glass bowls. Drop in the formerly uncirculated silver coin as well as the circulated piece. After a few seconds remove the coins and rub the surfaces with a damp paper towel. Have the coins taken on a grayish color which might include some vivid blue and violet tints?

If you happen to have one more uncirculated silver coin that you don’t mind destroying, put some of the remaining coin dip in a bowl and leave the coin to soak overnight. When you view the coin the next day it may have acquired a rough, grainy appearance, as though having been etched by acid. This is exactly what has happened. The coin dip, like some of the coin doctors, just doesn’t know when to stop.

REMOVE YOUR RUBBER GLOVES.

Our coin-cleaning lesson, which really wasn’t much of a lesson at all, is over. I hope it is the last time you will be inclined to play with any of this stuff. As you have seen, working with even mild chemicals can ruin coins. I have not mentioned these substances and techniques to encourage you to clean coins. My purpose is to accomplish just the opposite. Please don’t start experimenting with any worthwhile coins in your collection. Please don’t write or email me asking for any tips on how to clean coins!

IT’S UPSETTING.

A woman called and mentioned that she had some coins for sale. From her description it sounded like a very nice group. I made it very clear that I was interested in buying these types of pieces. She promised to stop by the office the next day.

She stood at the counter and slowly removed the coins from her purse one at a time. Each of the pieces had been heavily polished. The work was quite fresh as some of the goop that is used to polish silverware was still around the letters and devices of each coin. If someone had intentionally tried to ruin the coins they could not have done a better job.

“It took me hours to shine them,” she said. “I didn’t have time to finish them all.”

The two coins she had failed to clean were Twenty Cent pieces. A nicely matched pair of the scarce 1876 issues. She accepted my offer of $500 each for these “dirty” coins but declined my offer for the shiny ones. Her polishing efforts had easily cost her $3000, maybe more. I felt sorry for the woman; she looked like someone who could have used the money. I felt sorrier for the coins. Beautiful pieces that could have been the highlight of someone’s collection were badly damaged--forever. The woman had lost some money but the hobby had lost far more.

One can, and certainly should, excuse the actions of a person who simply didn’t know any better, but do you have any idea how many nice EF and AU coins have been destroyed by coin doctors who have whizzed, buffed, and polished them so that they would look like new and then could be sold for undeserved and often huge profits?

When an experienced numismatist examines coins which have been cleaned or otherwise tampered with there is no mistaking the work of the professional coin doctor with the blunders of the amateur. I once viewed a 20th century type set in which every coin had been mechanically polished. The coins were perfectly matched and hideous looking. The person who sold these coins might just as well have robbed the customer at gunpoint. The thievery would have been no less overt and some nice coins would have been saved from the ravages of the buffing wheel. I have seen coins that in their untampered state would have easily been worth $500, but they were worked over so they could be sold for $2500! Truthfully, I think it takes an extremely greedy person to intentionally ruin an already valuable coin. I can perhaps understand the motivation behind whizzing common date Indian cents and treating them with lemon juice so they become coins which might be sold, to unsuspecting buyers, for $50 or so, but I’m disgusted that someone would see fit to destroy an already valuable and prized piece.

THE IVORY SYNDROME.

Maybe I like coins too much? Maybe, as unlikely as it may seem, I know too much? Are coins which have been harshly cleaned or chemically treated really worthless? Am I such a purist that I can’t see some value in every coin as a collector’s item? If I wouldn’t turn up my nose at a New England Shilling that was worn thin and blackened by years of burial in salt laden muck, why should I be so concerned about someone sticking a Saint Gaudens double eagle in a belt buckle?

It seems that the participants in many hobbies have a passion for originality. In the case of classic cars it is always better to leave a rusted or dented part on the car than to replace it with a fixture that didn’t originally come on the unit. Coin collectors are not the only nitpickers. Please leave your coins alone! Accept them as they are. Enough accidents have ruined coins, please don’t damage them intentionally.

DEALING WITH CLEANING IN THE MARKETPLACE.

The third party grading services offer quite reasonable protection against buying cleaned and retoned coins in their holders. I’m quite sure they wouldn’t suggest they have done a perfect job, but as with coin grading, they seem to be the closest thing to perfection that is currently available. I know of at least two instances where it was found that a grading service did encapsulate a cleaned coin. Both times the service purchased their mistake.

Since the difference in value between AU grade coins and uncirculated examples is often great, the coin doctors can profit the most by making used look like new. Many AU-58 grade coins exhibit just a slight amount of friction that may only be detectable to most collectors under magnification. These coins may also have remarkably clean surfaces, that is, the look of a MS-63 grade coin with a slight rub. By adding camouflage, in the form of light or medium deep toning, the coin doctor can convert a Barber half dollar, which might sell for $300, into a coin that could be sold for at least twice as much.

Many coins which are really “sliders”, that is, lightly circulated AU coins are made fully brilliant and then sold as BU. The wear on these pieces, at least to the inexperienced eye, is hard to detect because the surfaces are so bright and reflective, perhaps due to light buffing.

Certain series of coins and certain issues within a series seem to be the favorites among the coin doctors. Whenever you encounter a big difference in value from one grade to the next or from circulated to uncirculated grades then you may have walked into the doctor’s office. Why bother working over a circulated example of an Arkansas commemorative when the difference in price between a new or used version is so small? It would be much more productive for the coin doctor to use their talent making a circulated Hawaiian issue look as good a new and thus easily worth twice what they had paid for it. Most gold type coins are likely patients for the coin doctor’s operating table. A lightly circulated Three-dollar gold piece might be worth $800. If this coin could be passed off as uncirculated then the doctor would be very well compensated for making the transformation.

One of the more notorious of the coin cleaners and retoners processed virtually every coin he handled. A regular customer, who had bought many of these scrubbed and buffed coins, called and placed an order. The dealer, who was just about to leave on vacation, decided to fill the order by sending this good customer a really uncirculated coin. After all, it doesn’t hurt to give your good customers a bonus now and then. When the dealer returned from his trip he found that the customer had returned the coin and sent a nasty letter as well. What was the dealer trying to pull? This coin didn’t look at all like the rest of the coins in the man’s collection. He demanded a refund and asked that his name be removed from the mailing list!

As I have mentioned before, cleaning and retoning a coin may not always be done with the intention of representing it to be of a higher grade, but simply to make it more saleable. I would suggest this is the reason for cleaning many coins. Which would you rather have, a coin with mottled gold-brown toning or a frosty bright white piece with nice luster? Thanks to chemistry, these two very different looking coins can be one in the same.

I would suggest that when it comes to well circulated or older coins the grading services tend to be a bit more liberal in regard to cleaning. A coin that has been heavily circulated can acquire a cleaned look only because it has passed through many different hands. Friction is what wore away some of the detail. This same friction may have shined the surfaces. A coin showing evidence of having been cleaned long ago has had many years to acquire some patina and the piece might be quite attractive. Which would your rather have, a nice medium brown colored Large Cent with less than a totally original look, or a dark brown and porous example?

I once purchased a 1799 Bust dollar which was absolutely brilliant. The coin was well struck and fully lustrous. It was easily the nicest example of a Bust dollar I had seen, but simply could not be considered original, at least in the strict meaning of the word. How could a coin possibly stay as bright and new looking as the day it was minted yet be nearly two hundred years old? It took me quite some time and considerable soul searching to decide to buy the coin. Spending more than $10,000 for a coin that had been “cleaned” was not an easy thing to do. After I owned the coin the first person I showed it to said, “It’s a beauty but it’s been cleaned.”

Later that same day the person who had sold me the coin visited my table again. He asked if I might know of anyone who was interested in British coins? Since he had seen no world coins in my display, he wrongly assumed that I didn’t have an interest in these pieces. When I asked to see what he had for sale he pulled a group of five superb English crown size coins from his brief case. Each of the coins was just as bright, but somewhat shinier, than the 1799 dollar I had purchased! I examined the coins carefully and found that each of the pieces had been expertly given a microscopic coat of lacquer. At one time this was quite a common practice. The lacquer acted like an airtight coin holder which prevented moisture and other substances, such as air, from reaching the surface of the coin and toning it. The customer explained that he had used paint thinner to remove the covering from the Bust dollar, because it was the most valuable, but decided against touching the other coins. I examined my coin with a magnifying glass and found traces of lacquer residue in some of the lettering on the reverse. So perhaps my Bust dollar was in fact original? Maybe the first owner had applied the protective coating to the coin upon returning, with this souvenir, from a visit to the former colonies? I bought the fellow’s British coins and was delighted to get them. It was not long afterward that I sold the beautiful Bust dollar to another dealer. I’m not certain he really bought my story about the coin having been coated with lacquer when it was young to preserve the surfaces, but like me, he couldn’t resist owning such a spectacular piece.

VALUES FOR CLEANED OR DAMAGED COINS.

Over the years I have encountered several collectors who have decided they would rather own a defective example of certain coins than go without. If you are more of an investor than a collector I would suggest that you not follow this path. The market for defective or damaged coins is a small one and opinions as to a coin’s value can be very different. As a young collector I bought damaged or cleaned coins because I thought I could never afford better. Looking back, I should have followed the advice that many people gave me. Be patient. Buy the best you can afford. It is better to have fewer coins that are of higher quality.

When I was in my early twenties I encountered a well-struck and beautiful, glossy brown, 1794 cent. To this day, I have seen few examples of this date which would meet or exceed the quality of this piece, except for the fact that it had a hole at 12 o’clock that looked like it had been made using a square nail. I paid $100 for the coin. I can’t really say if I had gotten a good deal, but I did know that I could never afford to keep a piece of such quality in my collection, unless it had the hole.

I would suggest that you not buy damaged or cleaned examples of coins which you could afford to own in untampered with condition. Unless you have set an extremely modest coin-buying budget, it makes little sense to buy a corroded or cleaned late date Large cent or a common to semi-common Morgan dollar that has been polished. In relation to the value of undamaged pieces, common coins which have been damaged are seldom a good deal. An area that a true collector might investigate are those coins which in untampered with or undamaged condition are scarce to rare.

During my many years in the coin business I have bought and sold very few of the Pan-Pacific $50 gold pieces. One that I did own, for a short while, had been carried as a pocket piece. The coin was polished from handling, had several huge rim nicks and a myriad of smaller gouges where it had come in contact with other coins. At the time, a nice uncleaned example was worth about $5000. I bought this hideous looking coin for $800. Did I make a good buy? Well, the next owner sold it for $1500, ten minutes after he bought it! I have to admit that just because a coin has been damaged or cleaned does not mean it is something that a collector should totally ignore.

PUTTING THE LID ON THE DIP JAR.

Lots of coins have been damaged due to ignorance on the part of the owners. Dealers and collectors who were more than willing to sacrifice a nice coin to put more money in their bank account have intentionally ruined lots of coins. If you decide that a coin you own could use a little help please think twice. If you and I don’t leave something nice for the next generation of collectors, who will?

This article used by permission. © 2001 Tom Becker Online