AirmetTango
Forum Supporter
I found a 1943 D steel Wheat Cent in the Coin Star return at my local grocery store this week, and as seen in the first three pics below, it was in pretty rough shape. It even had an odd coating on most of the reverse - the circular shape of the coating made me think it might have been glued to something at one point. I’ve never had the opportunity to clean a Steelie before, and since I figured I couldn’t hurt this one more than it already was, I decided to use it as my cleaning Guinea pig.
After perusing the interwebs for cleaning techniques, I decided to go with a hybrid of chemical and mechanical cleaning. I first dipped it in a 2:1 mixture of pure lemon juice:water with a dash of salt and timed it for 5 minutes. Removing it from the mixture, I neutralized the acids by rinsing in water and thoroughly rubbing in a baking soda paste. The 4th and 5th pictures below show the coin after the lemon juice and baking soda but before mechanical cleaning. The pics don’t do justice to the amazing difference - the light grey areas had a silvery shine. From there, I dried the coin and spent about an hour cleaning the front, back, and edges using a combination of my fingernail, Andre’s pencils, and 0000 steel wool to remove the remaining gunk and rust as best as I could. The lemon juice bath did a nice job of loosening whatever the coating on the reverse was...it was relatively easy to remove with my fingernail once the bath was done. When I was satisfied with how much rust was removed, I polished the coin surface again with a baking soda paste and rinsed with water. I finished with a dip in acetone to drive out any remaining water, dried, and immediately polished and coated it again with Renaissance wax.
The last four pictures are the final results, with the last two showing the Steelie side-by-side with a brand new, shiny penny to help visualize the after cleaning shine. There’s still some staining and the inevitable pitting from the corrosion, but I think it looks worlds better than before. Sure, it has no monetary value beyond face now that I’ve cleaned it, but it didn’t before I cleaned it, either. Increasing the value is never my goal when choosing to clean a found coin - just improving appearance.
After perusing the interwebs for cleaning techniques, I decided to go with a hybrid of chemical and mechanical cleaning. I first dipped it in a 2:1 mixture of pure lemon juice:water with a dash of salt and timed it for 5 minutes. Removing it from the mixture, I neutralized the acids by rinsing in water and thoroughly rubbing in a baking soda paste. The 4th and 5th pictures below show the coin after the lemon juice and baking soda but before mechanical cleaning. The pics don’t do justice to the amazing difference - the light grey areas had a silvery shine. From there, I dried the coin and spent about an hour cleaning the front, back, and edges using a combination of my fingernail, Andre’s pencils, and 0000 steel wool to remove the remaining gunk and rust as best as I could. The lemon juice bath did a nice job of loosening whatever the coating on the reverse was...it was relatively easy to remove with my fingernail once the bath was done. When I was satisfied with how much rust was removed, I polished the coin surface again with a baking soda paste and rinsed with water. I finished with a dip in acetone to drive out any remaining water, dried, and immediately polished and coated it again with Renaissance wax.
The last four pictures are the final results, with the last two showing the Steelie side-by-side with a brand new, shiny penny to help visualize the after cleaning shine. There’s still some staining and the inevitable pitting from the corrosion, but I think it looks worlds better than before. Sure, it has no monetary value beyond face now that I’ve cleaned it, but it didn’t before I cleaned it, either. Increasing the value is never my goal when choosing to clean a found coin - just improving appearance.
Attachments
-
2AD7D9C1-3A5B-40E3-89C3-1FF7D15BB817.jpg93.9 KB · Views: 505
-
BE2291BA-5B1E-44D3-839E-A645DF14492E.jpg112.9 KB · Views: 471
-
E3F8DB17-FDF6-448A-B000-E56CE3754BBB.jpg71 KB · Views: 479
-
77011862-403C-43F6-B44D-3CDB623588C8.jpg77.5 KB · Views: 478
-
B631CF33-B643-444C-AE42-510FAB3F6644.jpg92.3 KB · Views: 472
-
65C1A5A4-9A44-4126-AFC6-FA02E1B9549C.jpg115.1 KB · Views: 474
-
B512B58B-4993-4935-BCD4-ADE23363D216.jpg113 KB · Views: 471
-
08A82F47-92F1-4AE9-B645-F91D78CC8843.jpg78.1 KB · Views: 424
-
F587A9B2-7B86-4664-AC47-7480216DDA19.jpg79.7 KB · Views: 400
Last edited: