Читать книгу Coin Collecting For Dummies - Neil S. Berman - Страница 60

I remember the day when a nicely dressed man in his mid-40s came into my coin shop with a complete set of peace dollars he wanted to sell. The man explained that his father had painstakingly built the collection over many years. He inherited the coins after his father died. Now, many years later, he was curious to find out how much more valuable his coins had become.

Before I opened the album, the man pointed out that some of the coins had become tarnished over the years, so he had cleaned them to make it easier for me to see what they looked like. Hearing that, my heart sank. Sure enough, when he opened the album, I saw rows and rows of bright, shiny peace dollars. But they were too bright and shiny; all were obviously scrubbed and cleaned. Once beautiful, high-grade coins, now they were pieces of junk worth a fraction of their former value. A very disappointed person left my store that day.

Leave coin cleaning, which should rarely be done, to conservators. Never clean a coin yourself. Never. Ever.

Most coins should be left alone, but some coins cry out to be cleaned. The following coins could benefit from a cleaning, but all need to be treated differently:

 Coins found by metal detectors

 Coins that are extremely dark and tarnished

 Coins that have developed film from spending too much time in a vinyl coin holder

 Coins with tape residue or some other localized problem

I know you have coins that need to be cleaned, and I know you’re dying to clean them. So because you’re going to do it anyway, I may as well give you some safe cleaning tips. (Abstinence seems to be out of the question.) Please practice these techniques on inexpensive coins until you feel comfortable cleaning coins that are more desirable. Never clean coins that are valuable; take them to a professional instead. Finally, if you don’t feel comfortable cleaning coins, don’t do it.