• Forum server maintanace Friday night.(around 7PM Centeral time)
    Website will be off line for a short while.

    You may need to log out, log back in after we're back online.

Cleaning wheaties with CLR

Smooth23

Elite Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
618
Location
WI
So today I dug up a wheatie that was completely encrusted with crap. Peroxide, dish soap and baking soda were having no effect on it. I then pulled out the bottle of CLR and let the penny soak for ~5 minutes in maybe 5ml of it. I then pulled it out, rinsed it off and found out I have a '39D(my first kinda sorta mini key date wheat). Here's a couple pics. I'd like to hear your guys' imputs.
First coin: cleaned without CLR, this is what the CLR cleaned coin looked like, but on the obverse.
Second: CLR cleaned
Third: A control, got this one in change at the gas station a few weeks back.
DSCN2265.jpg

DSCN2266.jpg
 
Cleaning them with CLR is ok if you intend to keep them. If you did that with any valuable coin, you would destroy it's value. I clean some of my "display" coins, but I NEVER clean any coin that has collector value. The only way to clean a valuable coin is to send it to a grading service and have them clean it, they call it conservation. They know how to do it professionally, so as not to devalue the coin.:yes:
 
Ive tried CLR i really didnt like it at all. You have to remember to rinse them in baking soad water or it will continue to damage them. I just dont think you can beat a good tumbler and something less abrasive like pecan shells. Lets be real, there isnt a ton of coins that come out of the ground that most graders will slab. If they do curate them as they call it .... its still cleaned call it what they want ... its all about the money. Funny how the rich investors/collectors took a kids fun hobby and turned it into a money maker where they have the advantage. I remember when i was young many of the coins i collected were fairly easy to trade or sale... now no so easy unless they are slabbed. Dig a dirty coin you think is worth $90... you might sell it to someone who just dont know coins. Sooo that said i clean the coins to suit me... NOT the investors and i fine with that.

Dew
 
Ive tried CLR i really didnt like it at all. You have to remember to rinse them in baking soad water or it will continue to damage them. I just dont think you can beat a good tumbler and something less abrasive like pecan shells. Lets be real, there isnt a ton of coins that come out of the ground that most graders will slab. If they do curate them as they call it .... its still cleaned call it what they want ... its all about the money. Funny how the rich investors/collectors took a kids fun hobby and turned it into a money maker where they have the advantage. I remember when i was young many of the coins i collected were fairly easy to trade or sale... now no so easy unless they are slabbed. Dig a dirty coin you think is worth $90... you might sell it to someone who just dont know coins. Sooo that said i clean the coins to suit me... NOT the investors and i fine with that.

Dew

Very good points, and well put.
 
Ive tried CLR i really didnt like it at all. You have to remember to rinse them in baking soad water or it will continue to damage them. I just dont think you can beat a good tumbler and something less abrasive like pecan shells.

Dew


Wow, never heard of that? you got any laying around or can u get them online?
 
I foind a really old Roman Coin once and I used CLR on it and it ate the face off of it lol. It was already in really bad shape and the CLR just helped it along :lol:
 
Old coin value is all about condition and patina. Patina seems to be the most prevalent thing to determine value though. A scratch on a coin with patina won't reduce it's value as much as cleaning the patina off a coin with no scratch(es).

Aside from that....CLR is 100% pure cr@p. Weakest cleaning solution I've ever come across. Sodium thiosulfate dissolved in water does a better job, Tar-Nix does a much better job and Lime-Away really attacks the encrusted crud. Not saying to use any of the aforementioned by any means unless, as stated by another, you intend to just keep and display the coin/item without regard to its value. If my ultrasonic cleaner won't remove the crud then it's just going to be resident on the coin for life....IF it's a coin of any value.
 
clr

I knew CLR was a bad idea. I used lemon juice as a kid to clean pennies, it pitted them, after time. So I knew to use baking soda after trying clr on a scratched corroded post 1982 penny with a zinc center.

Try it sometime, on a (lawn mower chewed) penny with the zinc exposed by scratches, it will dissolve the zinc center leaving the penny hollow, eventually dissolving the thinner parts of the copper as well. The penny I did this to has a hole straight through it now.
 
I guess not cleaning is good, but If you can't read it at all, how would you know If its valuable or not?
 
Cleaning them with CLR is ok if you intend to keep them. If you did that with any valuable coin, you would destroy it's value. I clean some of my "display" coins, but I NEVER clean any coin that has collector value. The only way to clean a valuable coin is to send it to a grading service and have them clean it, they call it conservation. They know how to do it professionally, so as not to devalue the coin.:yes:
What is the cost for cleaning? Compared to the price of the coin ...I. Guess you must have realy valuble coin or other...
 
:wow: one serious way to clean non collectable coins from beach or mineral rich soil is white vinegar....have found quarters and dimes (new stuff) that I have found that were the same colour as pennies.......soaked them in white vinegar overnight and almost new looking....just fyi
 
:?: by the way any Fisher F70 people can you give me a hint (besides ground grab) that I can hunt a salt water beachfront (not near the water) without the constant chatter that the machine gives me....tried changin freq an reducing sensitivity no joy....any help would be greatly appreciated, live in Virginia Beach Va
 
This is very old thread but when it comes to cleaning coins with CLR pleas don't use it, it can ruin your coins. I had it eat the images off a large one cent bad lesson to learn.
 
It will definitely hurt the value. Use hydrogen peroxide let it soak for a few days it is way less invasive, once again do not use on valuable coins it may hurt the value.

__________
Oldest coin: 1880 IHP
Detectors: Garrett AT Pro
 
I agree with others. CLR not advisable on coins. Better to take a milder approach like walnut shell tumbling.
 
Back
Top Bottom