Coin Cleaning

I have a few hobbies. One is making and collecting smashed pennies another is treasure hunting. I have only found a few treasures, but I have found many thousands of coins. Many need to be cleaned before my bank will accept them. I wrote this story for anyone who needs clean and shiny coins. It works great on copper cents. Here is another trick I learned to keep the coppers shiny after cleaning. Rinse them well in clean water then add a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, stir a bit then lay out all the coins on a towel to dry. Don't let them touch each other and pat them dry with another towel to get off the water drops. There are several ways to clean your common clad coins so they will be accepted at banks and stores. This way is the easiest way I have come across and it does a pretty good job. Just Kidding!!! I had been saving my metal detecting coin finds for about a year. They weighed in at twenty pounds so I decided to cash them in. The teller at my local bank said he would run them through his coin counter for me. But, I knew if I brought them in, the way they were, something would jam up the works and I probably wouldn't be welcome there anymore. I had heard someone mention tumbling so I decided to give it a try. First I had to find a tumbler. I found one on sale at Harbor Freight Tools. This is the Chicago Rotary Tumbler model #46376. It was about $26. It is pretty well built but the electric motor stretches the pulley belt too tight and I could only get about four hours use out of the supplied rubber pulley belts. I had to drill out new holes and move the motor closer to the shaft that turns the tub. Now, I was out of pulley belts. Fate must have been on my side. The very next time I went detecting I was at a tot lot and scooped up one of those heavy duty rubber things that girls put in their hair for ponytails. Usually there is a metal clamp on them to hold the two ends together but this one is like a rubberband. When I got home I put it on, it fit and drove that tub with out a bit of a problem. Remember, this is for any modern coins you will find. If you tumble any silver coins they will come out looking new, but if they had any value to a coin collector you will have lowered it a lot. Here is what you will need to clean up your coins: Rotary Tumbler Aquarium Gravel Liquid Dishwashing Soap Measuring Cup Lots of Coins Step 1: Separate out the pennies. Run all the silver colored coins separately from the pennies. If you run them together, every coin will have a nice coppery shine. Step 2: Measure out one cup of aquarium gravel and put in tub. I chose white because there were no dyes in them, but any color will probably work. Step 3: Measure out one cup of coins and put in tub. The tumbler I have has a three pound capacity and with this recipe it comes out a bit over, but no problem. Step 4: Add water to the tub untill it just covers the top of the coins. Then squirt in about half a teaspoon of soap. Step 5: Seal up the tub and run for about four hours. Depending on how dirty your coins are, or how shiny you want them to be this may be enough. I am a bit picky, so after four hours I would rinse out the very dirty water. I would add fresh water and another squirt of soap and put them back in for another four hours. Step 6: When cleaned to your satisfaction rinse them well under running water and spread out on a towel to dry. Be sure that none of the coins touch each other when drying, as they will leave marks on each other. Each batch will clean about one to one and a half pounds of coins. I lost track of the number of batches I did but it took about three weeks to get them finished. Pennies take longer because we all know how cruddy they can get. I did not lose a single clad coin to corrosion or crud. But, about five percent of my pennies would not clean-up. They were just too far gone to start with. Here are a few before and after shots of my coins.