Soap and Water - This is generally the only way to clean silvered and silver-plated coins, without damaging the silver. Ammonium - Windex works fine. This will clean the coin without damaging the silver.
Mix two tablespoons of table salt with one cup of white vinegar, and toss your coins in. Make sure not to mix metals. Let the coins soak for a few hours or even overnight. Take 'em out, rinse 'em off with distilled water, and let 'em dry. You can get it pretty much anywhere, or order the vinegar straight from Amazon.
DO NOT CLEAN COINS WITH BAKING SODA, VINEGAR, SALT, PASTE, COCA-COLA, OR ANY OTHER CHEMICALS.
Some archeologists, professional coin dealers, and metal detecting hobbyists have used ultrasonic tanks that use ultrasound waves to agitate the clean, warm, soapy, distilled water in which coins are immersed. Sound waves are more gentle than even a soft toothbrush.
NO! Coca cola is highly acidic and will destroy your coins. If you really need to clean any coin use only distilled water and a drop of dishwashing detergent. Let a coin sit in this for a while. If necessary to dislodge any stubborn dirt use a soft brush. Dry the coin thoroughly before you put into a flip.
Yes, you can use hydrogen peroxide to clean coins. It can remove stains and tarnish and won't damage your coins' surface. However, it's best to use a diluted form of hydrogen peroxide instead of concentrated.
Try a variety of citrus juices to see which works best or simply let your pennies soak in lemon juice. Citric acid works similarly to the other acids. Use a common pencil eraser on your pennies to remove the oxides like mistakes on paper. This takes more work than the others, however.
Acid based cleaners will eat away at a coin's surface diminishing its value. According to research professor Vinod Patel, washing common coins with natural white vinegar and iodized salt in distilled water is a non destructive way of cleaning them.
In the 1960s, the U.S. stopped minting silver coins because they'd become too expensive, he said. So coins from 1964 and before are more valuable. Some are worth a decent amount of money. If they're not rare, they can still bring in 12 times the face value because of the silver.
An expert can, in some cases, improve the value of an old coin by cleaning, but for the average collector the risk of damage is too great, as almost anything you do is going to cut the value.
The oil-base makes WD-40 reasonably effective at removing it without a lot of work. There is of course some sacrifice when this stuff is removed but fortunately the metal underneath is in pretty good condition and the coin, in hand, is much more presentable.
The 1982 “no mint mark” with bronze/copper composition and large date can cost an average of $0.05 in circulated condition. In an uncirculated state, the coin's value can range from $6 to $16. But pieces in higher grades – MS67 and above–can sell for as much as $135.
Ammonium - Windex works fine. This will clean the coin without damaging the silver. Lemon Juice - This works great on hard to clean silver coins. Simply leave the coin in the juice until the desired amount of crud has been removed.
The 1944 Lincoln penny is particularly desirable in the eyes of collectors not only because of its design, but also due to its scarcity. Being that there are no more 1944 Lincolns being produced, the scarcity of these coins is constantly on the rise, thus making the coins more valuable.
According to the NGC Price Guide, as of February 2025, a Kennedy Half Dollar from 1965 in circulated condition is worth between $4.80 and $5.25. However, on the open market 1965 Half Dollars in pristine, uncirculated condition sell for as much as $2650.
Lemon Juice did do the best, getting an average of rating of 7.5! Coming in second was Dish Soap which got an average rating of 7. A 3 way tie which consisted of Water, Cola, and Orange Juice, got an average rating of 5.5.
Don't soak the pennies for too long.
After a few minutes, the same reaction that dissolves stuck-on grime can begin to eat away at the copper.
Because the cleaning process required to restore the original bright and shiny look of the penny are nearly always abrasive, cleaning them rarely improves the grading of a valuable coin and almost always reduces the value.
The best way to do this is with an acid and salt. Ketchup contains vinegar, a weak acid, which breaks down the copper oxide on the surface of the penny. The salt in the ketchup goes on to add dissolved chloride ions to the mix. These ions bond with the copper, forming copper chloride.
It's actually the acid within the cola that's reacting with the rust on the surface of our coins and causing them to return to their original shiny selves.