Cleaning Old Coins

[Madly Creating]

I picked up a box of old coins (mostly pennies) which have obviously been in the ground for quite a while.... anyone got any advice for cleaning them up without losing that "antique" look?

[moni219]

coca cola

I picked up a box of old coins (mostly pennies) which have obviously been in the ground for quite a while.... anyone got any advice for cleaning them up without losing that "antique" look?

I have been told that if you put them in cola overnight it cleans them,I have not tryed it though.

[jencel]

Yes, I've heard that, and seen it too. (I wonder what it does to your insides?) But it will probably bring them up really shiny.

[merry]

try toothpaste, that really worked on my dad's old silver medal! Coke doesn't really work that well.

[beadsbydesign]

coke and cillitbang react with the copper in the coins and turn then the pinky copper colour, so i'd avoid that. Toothpaste is mildly abrasive and should do the job., You'd need to try out one coin first so you don't damage the whole of your hoard!

[nattynetty]

When I asked on here a few months ago about cleaning a silver necklace I got some brilliant advice - I know it's not the same metal but I found toothpaste worked really really well and cola didn't.

[fairybabyb]

Hi there

My dad is an avid coin collector and he uses cola or lemon juice sometime works depending on the type of metal xx

[Selina]

My dad does a lot of metal detecting, he uses brown sauce to clean up old coins, Selina

[craftdancer]

Regards the cola suggestions - I think that it may be just "The Real Thing"! that is so good at cleaning metal - probably the imitation colas don't have the secret ingredient - or not so much of it that it is effective. I do remember, many years ago, seeing Coca Cola cleaning up a old penny beautifully.

Linda

[nettie]

This is going back yeeeears, but i remember my mum soaking an old coin she found in the garden in vinegar.

[Dagna]

Bear in mind that cleaning them will break any numismatists' (coin collectors') hearts... So check to see that none of them are valuable first! If they are, then polishing them takes away most of the value. (I used to work with a very keen and knowledgeable coin collector, and one of my cousins spent a fortune on coins and then polished them up and reduced the value to a fraction of what he paid.)

[SNOWF1975]

My dad does a lot of metal detecting, he uses brown sauce to clean up old coins, Selina

yup, HP Brown Sauce works! My dad always used it.

[Madly Creating]

Both lemon and lime juices worked, but I think I left it on too long! The two test coins are shiner than shiney!

[TerriWoah]

I immediately think vinegar but I have no idea where I got that idea from, worth a try though eh.

[THE CARDMAKER-CINDY]

coins

tomato ketchup works, but it might make them too shiney

Cindy x