Detecting Cleaned Coins

Detecting Cleaned Coins

Matt  Dinger

Matt@coinshowradio.com

 

The ultimate letdown for a new collector is being told by a more experienced collector or dealer that one of his favorite new coins has been cleaned. Being a dealer I get the unfortunate task of letting collectors know on a regular basis that their coins have indeed been cleaned. Why are coins cleaned?  How are coins cleaned? How do I detect a cleaned coin?

 

Why are coins cleaned?

In the  1960’s and earlier cleaning of coins was acceptable. If you thought a coin was dirty or didn’t like how it looked then you just cleaned it until it looked the way you wanted it to. As time (and logic) progressed the act of cleaning ones coins went from the norm to an unacceptable practice.  Many early US coins have been cleaned. I would hazard to guess that more than 75% of early US coins have been cleaned at some point in their life. Copper large cents and half cents in particular were cleaned in large numbers as were early dollars and halves.  

 

How are coins cleaned?

Coins are cleaned in many ways. Here are the most common:

• Acids - The surface of a coin can be altered by acids.
• Jewelry cleaning solutions - Commonly called dipping.
• Oils – Oils can be used to break up debris on coins.
• Polishing – Coins can be polished to make them appear shiny.
• Abrasion – Using something like toothpaste or baking soda to clean a coin.
• Whizzing – The act of adding artificial luster to coins with a mechanical drill and a special bit.
• Scrubbing – The act of using a solvent and abrasion to clean surface debris.
• Ultrasonic cleaning – Placing a coin in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner.
• Wire brushing – Especially prevalent for copper to remove surface debris.

 

How do I detect a cleaned coin?

The easiest way to detect a cleaned coins is to study what the coins are SUPPOSED to look like and not what cleaning does to them. This can be achieved by looking at graded and certified examples of the certain coin you are interested in. Once you learn what a “nice” example looks like it is much easier to see what a not-so-nice example looks like.

 Here are some examples of cleaned coins:

Lightly Polished

Cleaned with abrasive / Mouseover PCGS Graded coin

Whizzed