i collect coins but they become rusted and unshiny how to clean them and keep them shiny as new, thanks?

Answer 1

Hi...I am a coin dealer in the Midwest. There is a common myth about coins that they have to be bright and shiny to be worth anything. Nothing could be further from the truth. I've seen previously valuable items walk into our coin shop, that have been totally ruined because someone just had to shine them up.

Coins can and do acquire "toning" with age; this is normal for the most part...however you want to store your coins in a stable atmosphere...not someplace damp that can cause corrosion.

If you are storing your coins someplace where they become "rusted" as you claim, then you have likely already ruined their value....but somehow I'm thinking that they aren't really "rusted"...for starters, using US coins as an example, none are made of steel, except for some one cent pieces made in 1943...so they can't "rust"...they can corrode, but generally it will be a green crusty type of corrosion. If your coins have this kind of stuff on them, then frankly they won't have much value anyway, so although cleaning them won't help their value, it might make them legible at least. This would be the only scenario where I'd recommend cleaning. You aren't risking anything anyway; at that point they will likely only be either conversation pieces, or just worth their base intrinsic value (if silver).

Hopefully by "rusted" you mean that they have simply changed color with age...this is called toning, and is especially common with silver coins (although other types of coins can undergo variations in color as well). In this case you should leave the pieces in their natural state...cleaning them will reduce if not ruin any value they might have.

In short, no amount of cleaning or polishing will make a used coin a new coin again; the act of cleaning/polishing actually strips away part of the coin's surface, imparts hairline scratches onto the piece, and gives it an unnatural appearance easily noticed by anyone who knows coins. If you still have concerns after reading all this, take the coins to your local coin dealer and a) find out if they're worth anything, and b) get his opinion on what if anything should be done to either enhance or protect them. You can obtain coin holders that will protect the coins and keep them in their current state of preservation.

Hope this helped.

Answer 2

First of all be careful in cleanning them. An Old coinm should not shine. that is part of the value.Contact another collector in your area or a coin shop for advise.

Answer 3

Don't, the more you mess with them, the less they're worth. Most collectors expect the years to show.

Answer 4

poor a little hot sauce on them

Answer 5

DO NOT! clean coins,,,takes away value,,,,,,,,,,,,