A guy at a coin show told me my cleaning method was ruining my pennies

I used to polish old coins with baking soda and water until a dealer in Portland pointed out the scratches under a magnifier. Turns out the micro-abrasions are permanent and kill the value. Has anyone else had to unlearn a bad habit after getting honest feedback?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan_martinez1mo ago

Start with a dry erase marker on a few junk coins. The ink fills the scratches and makes them way easier to see than a magnifier. It's a cheap trick that saves you from wrecking anything good.

ericj451mo ago

Whoa, wait the dry erase marker trick actually works? @morgan_martinez that's wild, I never would have thought of that. Is the ink tough to clean off or does it just wipe away?

the_lee28d ago

Has anyone else scrubbed a coin so hard with baking soda that it looked like a frosted donut? I definitely learned that lesson the hard way with a 1910 wheat penny I thought I was "saving". That dealer in Portland probably saved me from wrecking a whole roll of Indian Heads I had sitting around. Now I just stick them in a little soapy water if they're really dirty and let the dirt fall off on its own. The scratch thing is brutal because you can't see it until it's way too late.