We have 100 dollars of stained money. I guess it just happens when it is in the elements. I would like to think it would pay for batteries or gas money. It is fun to just dig it up anyway. The bank won't take it and said it was worthless. I have use lots of cleaning solutions on it and not much success. It you have any commits or advise I would appreciate it. Thank you, Sue
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your advise on cleaning money worth only face value
- Thread starter Sue
- Start date
greatwhite
New member
coin star at the local grocery store. Dump in the coins, take the slip to customer service, get cold cash. what could be easier.
DrJoeprime
New member
Coinstar normally takes 9% fee...BUT there are a few special Coinstars where they give out full value Amazon certificates...worth the look.
Also...I've heard that vinegar bath with salt added for a few hours will take care of most of stains for quarters and dimes ONLY! (don't mix pennies in there)...BUT wash and dry thoroughly QUICKLY afterward because they re-stain if left to slowly air dry (a mistake I did). I'm trying it the right way right now and see what happens.
I've had success with hydrochloric acid (available from home depot in pool area). It is VERY DANGEROUS and can burn you. Best is to dilute it at least 50% and a quick dip with a quick wash and dry afterwards.
All in all the Coinstar looks more and more attractive. AND take a look in the reject slot I've heard of some thin gold or silver rings being rejected out.
HH Joe
PS: this is the last one: I've heard that you can put the coins into the post office stamp machines and then at the last minute change your mind and the machine drops out nice and clean new coins...only what I heard NOT from personal experience.
Also...I've heard that vinegar bath with salt added for a few hours will take care of most of stains for quarters and dimes ONLY! (don't mix pennies in there)...BUT wash and dry thoroughly QUICKLY afterward because they re-stain if left to slowly air dry (a mistake I did). I'm trying it the right way right now and see what happens.
I've had success with hydrochloric acid (available from home depot in pool area). It is VERY DANGEROUS and can burn you. Best is to dilute it at least 50% and a quick dip with a quick wash and dry afterwards.
All in all the Coinstar looks more and more attractive. AND take a look in the reject slot I've heard of some thin gold or silver rings being rejected out.
HH Joe
PS: this is the last one: I've heard that you can put the coins into the post office stamp machines and then at the last minute change your mind and the machine drops out nice and clean new coins...only what I heard NOT from personal experience.
I do a lot of coin cleaning myself for those that live around me as I find it is something to do in my spare time. I found a way I like to use myself, but you need a rock tumbler that can be got from Harbor Freight for around $20 I believe or get a better one from some of the rock shops or our sponsors of these forums. First thing is separate the copper from the nickles, dime and quarters, The copper will clean up fast for me and within a hour it will look like it was never in the ground. Some of the newer pennies from 1983 to present are the copper coated zinc pennies and they may look like they got ate up a bit, so the bad ones I just throw away. Now the clad coins take a little longer and sometime I have to run them more than once and even soak them in the tumbler over night.
I use the rock tumbler with some aquarium gravel,water and a good shot of Real Lemon juice I get at Sam's Club for around $5 for 3 quarts which will do many load for me. I put in the coins (we will use pennies this time) in the tumbler with some aquarium gravel (small rocks) so it is around 2/3 full and add water to cover everything and add a good shot (about 1/16-1/8 cup) of the real Lemon juice and tumble for about a hour. Rinse them off under water and let them air dry on a towel as they should look good. I will now pick out the damaged and bent ones and put the rest in a bag to take to the bank.
Now on the clad i will do the same thing to get the dirt off them and pick out the good one as some will be like new with the lemon juice, but most will still be bad. Now i will put them back in the tumbler and add the water and gravel, but now i will add just a little bit of Muriatic acid, but be very careful with this as it is a strong acid you can get at hardware store for working with cement and mortar. Now I will tumble for about a hour and rinse off and put them back in with the gravel, water and some lemon juice to clean off the acid and tumble for maybe 15 minutes, rinse and air dry on a towel. Now if you don't want to use the acid then do as before with the lemon juice and rinse off and take out the good ones and put back in the tumbler with the gravel and water and more lemon juice and tumble a little while and then leave it set over night or about 6 hours and turn on the tumbler for a hour or so and drain and rinse off and dry. These will look great too, but the acid does better and faster. I make sure there are no bent or damage coins to jamb up the banks coin counter machine or even those that use the Coinstar counters as it may jamb up thier machine too.
I am going to see if I have some pictures to post to show you what the look like.
Here is some coins that I hadnt cleaned yet.
[attachment 81483 clad.jpg]
Here is the clad cleaned. I didnt get a very good picture, but hope it will do as some do have a slight red tint to them, but the light and angle also makes them look redder then they are.
[attachment 81484 clad2.jpg]
Here is the pennies that have been cleaned.
[attachment 81485 pennies.jpg]
I use the rock tumbler with some aquarium gravel,water and a good shot of Real Lemon juice I get at Sam's Club for around $5 for 3 quarts which will do many load for me. I put in the coins (we will use pennies this time) in the tumbler with some aquarium gravel (small rocks) so it is around 2/3 full and add water to cover everything and add a good shot (about 1/16-1/8 cup) of the real Lemon juice and tumble for about a hour. Rinse them off under water and let them air dry on a towel as they should look good. I will now pick out the damaged and bent ones and put the rest in a bag to take to the bank.
Now on the clad i will do the same thing to get the dirt off them and pick out the good one as some will be like new with the lemon juice, but most will still be bad. Now i will put them back in the tumbler and add the water and gravel, but now i will add just a little bit of Muriatic acid, but be very careful with this as it is a strong acid you can get at hardware store for working with cement and mortar. Now I will tumble for about a hour and rinse off and put them back in with the gravel, water and some lemon juice to clean off the acid and tumble for maybe 15 minutes, rinse and air dry on a towel. Now if you don't want to use the acid then do as before with the lemon juice and rinse off and take out the good ones and put back in the tumbler with the gravel and water and more lemon juice and tumble a little while and then leave it set over night or about 6 hours and turn on the tumbler for a hour or so and drain and rinse off and dry. These will look great too, but the acid does better and faster. I make sure there are no bent or damage coins to jamb up the banks coin counter machine or even those that use the Coinstar counters as it may jamb up thier machine too.
I am going to see if I have some pictures to post to show you what the look like.
Here is some coins that I hadnt cleaned yet.
[attachment 81483 clad.jpg]
Here is the clad cleaned. I didnt get a very good picture, but hope it will do as some do have a slight red tint to them, but the light and angle also makes them look redder then they are.
[attachment 81484 clad2.jpg]
Here is the pennies that have been cleaned.
[attachment 81485 pennies.jpg]
Bugar In. USA
Active member
That i plan on spending, then just good enough that it's accepted, i use a tumbler and aquarium gravel, couple drops dishwasher soap,, bout a hour or so gets it good enough, if you mix pennies and dimes, quarters together, all of the silvery stuff turns kinda pinky-copper lookin, good luck and HH
Cleaned little over $1000.00 worth last year
and spent it pitted and mangled=trash it
Cleaned little over $1000.00 worth last year
and spent it pitted and mangled=trash itProbably not as well as I tried crushed walnut shells and it took a long while to get anything off the coins even tried steel BBs too. The Tumbler I have is a thumblers tumbler also and just get some aquarium gravel as it is cheap and add the water and lemon juice or dish washing soap as some say, but I find the lemon juice works best for me on the coppers and the Muriatic acid and when done run in the lemon juice a little while to get the acid off.
The Tumblers that don't work good for clad coins is the vibrating ones as it takes too long,, but for my wheat pennies it works great if the pennies are not too far gone. Most look like they were never lost and yet not as clean looking as the new pennies I tumble in the rotary one.
The Tumblers that don't work good for clad coins is the vibrating ones as it takes too long,, but for my wheat pennies it works great if the pennies are not too far gone. Most look like they were never lost and yet not as clean looking as the new pennies I tumble in the rotary one.
The last time I cashed in my clad I rinsed it in the sink to get the major dirt off. Then I took it down to the grocery store and dropped it into the coinstar machine. Had to pay a little percentage, but it was worth it for the time I saved. The manager helped me because I hadn't used the machine before. He got a kick out of the fact that it was all found coins.
Walked in with a grocery bag full of dirty clad and left with cash.
w
Walked in with a grocery bag full of dirty clad and left with cash.
w
Hi, I've used an ultrasonic. The effectiveness depends on the number of transducers it has. The more the merrier. Cheap units have one or more, and usually work a little. The main thing is that an ultrasonic works by cavitation. In other words, it creates bubbles that stick close to the object, and then implode taking a bit of the crud with them. This is why it worked for a while on something dirty, but doesn't go any further and take away every stain. It works great on silver jewelry though. If I wanted to remove dirt encrusted objects, I would use it. That's my take on it.
GRAY GHOST
New member
well sue, im one of the guilty parties who saves up a bunch of change and then inserts my found clad into rolls with the good clad. if its rotten, like a lot of cents are, i throw them away. i will at most rinse the found clad. the way i see it, uncle sam can have his old clad stuff back. oftentimes, banks dont want the stained clad, even tho its legal tender. so i just insert all mine into rolls, its easier for me. hh,
I had one quarter to clean tonight. I rinsed it off using my fingers and running water. I could see enough to see that it was modern, turned out to 1994, so I hit it a couple of licks on each side with steel wool and dropped it in the change jar. Looks just like everything else in there now.
silvernail
New member
Rick, tumblers work by the hour, and sometimes by the day or week ... depending. Polishing rocks can take weeks. Clad cents should be ok in an hour or so. Some say pennies will hammer each other clean and you don't even need grit in there. I haven't tried it. Ant hill gravel should be good. Aquarium gravel is good but I don't like the coated stuff.