Cleaning Coins - Electrolysis........It Worked:thumbup:

[awhitster]

Last month I found a 1901 s Barber dime and an 1888 Seated Liberty dime. They were so black I couldn't see them. I tried everything to clean them but it was so stuck on I couldn't clean it with jewelry cleaner. I finally decided to use Electrolysis. You could see the black peeling off. I know the 1901 is a key date but you needed a loupe to even see it.Coin Cleaning Link

 

[Tim-PY]

[size=large]I recently read an article about this procedure. Looks like it did well! Tim[/size]

 

[treasurefiend]

I have been doing it for years, I use an old cell phone charger and alagator clips and an old spoon in a cup with salt water or distilled water. It works great, and less hassel than using a battery.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Works everytime. Nice finds bud.

Bill

 

[Goes4ever]

excellent cleaning job!

 

[awhitster]

[quote treasurefiend]I have been doing it for years, I use an old cell phone charger and alagator clips and an old spoon in a cup with salt water or distilled water. It works great, and less hassel than using a battery.[/quote]Wel it work on pennies or just silver?

 

[treasurefiend]

[quote awhitster][quote treasurefiend]I have been doing it for years, I use an old cell phone charger and alagator clips and an old spoon in a cup with salt water or distilled water. It works great, and less hassel than using a battery.[/quote]Wel it work on pennies or just silver?[/quote]

I havent tried it on a penny, but it should work. I do it mostly on silver and encrusted ancient roman coins. Test it on a dirty memorial cent. It should work an any metal.

 

[Goes4ever]

looks like an easy way to shock yourself

 

[awhitster]

[quote Goes4ever]looks like an easy way to shock yourself [/quote] Actually you put it in the water then turn it on.

 

[treasurefiend]

yea, cell phone charger is like 1 amp, its safe

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

When I was a kid, I use to reverse the process and make copper nickels or silver pennies. I even did a little gold plating. My dad had a two oz. lump of pure gold that he sold in the 70's when gold was $800 an oz.

 

[treasurefiend]

Nice

 

[NM5K]

It sure flakes the dirt off nice. I've got a couple of rigs here I was using.
One is 24v if I remember right..
The only downside I've noticed is often the coins you clean will look
good at first, but then they turn dark after they sit a while.
IE: it cleans pennies real good, but often they will turn real
dark after sitting a few months. This can be cleaned off in
many cases though. I'm not sure what causes that..
But I'd almost bet those dimes turn dark after a while, and it
has something to do with the electrolysis.
Soooo... If I had a real valuable coin, I probably would not
use electrolysis to clean it unless nothing else worked.
Also, I try to use as close a sacrificial metal to the object
being cleaned as possible to avoid weird discoloration.
IE: if I was cleaning pennies, I would use a piece of copper
tubing, or maybe even other pennies as the sacrificial metal.
If it was silver clad, I would a piece of stainless, or whatever..
I didn't have very good luck cleaning discolored quarters, etc
with it.. It gets the dirt off, but usually does not get the red or
brown discoloration very well. So even after several runs through,
they still looked pretty funky.
I've got a brown quarter sitting here on the table that was like that,
and zapped several times. It's so dark and brown, it looks like a
quarter sized penny. And it got darker after sitting a few months.

 

[awhitster]

[quote NM5K]
The only downside I've noticed is often the coins you clean will look
good at first, but then they turn dark after they sit a while.
[/quote]Do you put them in flips or let them sit in the air. Mine are in flips. I will update the condition in a few months.

 

[NM5K]

Mine just sat in air. I'm not even sure what a "flip" is...

 

[awhitster]

The cardboard holders witht he mylar on them. You fold and then staple them.

 

[Parkit]

I used to try other methods like soaking in olive oil for a decade, but I have a 1945 Phillipine dime (minted in Denver) that was so bad I got tired of looking at it. Electrolysis was the only way to go, and it's so dang easy, cheap and effective that it's the best ticket for really bad items. I'm not afraid to use it now on anything that I don't think will be cheapened by the effort. Your coin looks much better.

Steve