how to clean & remove tarnish/patina from junk copper coins & items
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
- Simple, fast, and all you need is salt and vinegar. A mild abrasive (like baking soda) helps remove physical dirt and grime. A little hand or dish soap is optional.
Remember, NEVER clean an item of value unless you're confident you know what you're doing. Cleaning coins almost always ensures they'll be unwanted by a collector, essentially reducing their value to whichever is greater; their junk value, or their face value.
The process works on copper as well as on its alloys. I recommend it for brass, bronze, and other alloys with 80% or greater copper content.
I also have a video on removing tarnish from silver coins: • how to remove tarnish ...
If you have comments, questions, or suggestions: please leave them below!
I tried this method and it worked very well indeed. I also tried it on part-silver coins and it worked well on those too. Note for UK viewers: I used Distilled Malt Vinegar, which is clear, and available from supermarkets for about 50p.
Thanks for showing easy cleaning process of old patina coins. Great video.
Not to mention that the vinegar is an acid that does soak into the patena (sp).... When you use the baking soda it is able to use the reaction of the soda neutralizing the acid to assist removing the oils and dirt. Great video
hi drutter, i inheritance a large collection of moroccan copper couscoussier for decoration, big items, and i love them but they were full of patina and i tried alot of ways (hard ways) to get them shiny again and it was A LOT of WORK and didnt work that well.. than i see your video and in a matter of hours im done, and some of them were black like the coin you droped. so me and my hands wanted to say thanks mate for doing this video, this works like magic and with almost no scrub soo.. THANK YOU
Hey man, I really appreciate this. I recently bought a bunch of NAMCO arcade coins on eBay that were very dirty. Followed your video, and they look good as new!
I will be sharing this video with friends, thank you so much from Chicago IL!
I just finished doing it and it worked. Thankful and grateful here darling 😘
Glad it worked for ya! Thanks for your comment :)
Hey thanks for posting a video of this. I found some nice Lincoln wheat back cents in my small collection. I have since been inspired to look through all of my pennies and get some collector folders for myself. My plan is to go over my collection year by year and see if I have any duplicates. If I have duplicates I don't mind cleaning one just to add to my collector's folders for display. The others I hope to find a way to sell them to a collector here in Seattle or something like that. Thanks for also giving a heads up on how this can ruin the value price. I now have a plan in store because of this.
it's a wonderful way to take the rust out of the coins
You are good!!! Now im gonna start cleaning up my collections. Keep me updatef Mr. Mr.
It worked like magic. Thanks a million
The trick to this is that after the final rinse and patting (not rubbing) them dry with a soft cloth or microfiber, you hold them under a hair dryer and dry them out with a warm/hot blast. This ensures that there is zero moisture on the coin surface that may cause discoloration in the future.
I haven't got any serious ability to stack anything right now - just hanging on to my tools, rotating food supply, & a few handful of coins. But yeah, they say copper is the metal of the common man. I'm realistic, I'll admit to being a common man. Copper is largely industrial due to its plentiful supply on this planet, but it has many excellent and unique qualities (like silver and gold in the same group), and is certainly at least partially a monetary metal.
I grew up with copper in my pocket:)
Thank you for this video darling! 😘
our old copper pipes were getting replaced. tryed all the solutions nut took ages this method of a brine bath is 100% idiot proof & I luv it. :-)
Fiona McCorkindale
Your coins are perfect and don't need cleaning
Tried everything before but not the baking soda part... with that it works great for cleaning copper vape mods... good trick
Thank you very much for sharing.
i take that back this is sweet it works
BIEN POR EL METODO.ADELANTE Y GRACIAS.
Thank you - this was very helpful!
Dr. Utter!
Thanks. Nice video. So are you stacking copper now?
Awesome advise!
Leave in a saturated solution of baking soda and water, this will neutralize the acetic acid and stop the action from continuing. Then wash with cold clean water. An inexpensive ultrasonic cleaner will remove dirt without affecting the patina.
Nice info. Thank you.
Thanks worked instantly
excellent advice great video
Copper is strangely attractive for being a base metal.
After all the people that have said never clean your coins, how do you get the buildup off a coin to see a double die that MAY BE on any coins that MAY BE of any value?
Thanks! Just did it on my brother's copper bullion. Worked great!
Wouldn't it be better to you hot vinegar?Awesome video. Thanks a lot.
I think so, as long as there are no non-metal parts, and it really is brass. Consider trying a few drops of the solution on a hidden part of the buckle before doing the whole thing.
I used viniger salt and baking soda I left it and it was magic so clean
did u do it on copper coin
I recall watching a documentary about ancient Egypt, and they were talking about how they valued copper more than gold at one point.
i have tried this but putting the vinegar and salt in an old jar then putting it in the ultrasonic cleaner it works wonders , very quickly
Ultrasonic sounds like fun.
Great vid!
what quantities you have used of the various things?
Enjoying your videos! Thanks
$1 +changetip +drutter
I probably shouldn't of done this on my 1950 Half Crown, think it's taking the outer coating off cause it's made of nickel I think?
I have an 1872 Indian Penny that I picked up for a good deal in Fine Grade a couple of months ago for about $30!!! There is some minor corrosion apparent to it, however, I wouldn't clean it for the life of me.
You're good at explaining and teaching. I want to do this with an old brass trumpet, but afraid that it will "acid" off layers/dimension. Do you think it will change it to the worse? Is there a way of cleaning it with out chemicals?
+Audun Jemtland
Good question! No, I don't think this treatment would "acid off" layers or dimension. The reason is, it only acts at a microscopic level - just the atoms at the very surface that have been affected. They will simply be converted back into shiny copper metal. There won't be any noticeable change to your brass trumpet, even if it has fine detail on its surface. I've used it on very intricate copper coins and they look pristine. I understand your hesitancy but I think you'll be fine.
Nice! Thank you so much for that thorough answer!
+Audun Jemtland Though if you use hot water, it can and most likely will melt off some of the lacquer on the trumpet which makes it shine more.
+include 3N14C.h okay that didn't make sense. I meant the lacquer makes the brass shine more.
Can this work on old unlaquard brass?
hey guys. what's the name of the solution to clean up this old stain money. thnx
Did the first one come out shiny?
helpful
Sir original gold ?
Hi, thanks for that video. I found it when I tried to find a way to tarnish my copper coins. I do magic and I want all my coins to look somewhat old and not shiny. Do you know how to do it ? Do you have a video ? Thanks in advance.
burn it in a coconut leaves its looks old after
What value of one cents in year 2004 question
How do they look a week after they have been cleaned? Mine were multi colored. Did I do something wrong? Not rinse them good enough? Not protect them afterwards?
Good question! I've had some that went rainbowy. The good news is, you can redo them, and try again. Yes, I think it might have something to do with pH levels, and not rinsing either the vinegar or the baking soda off completely. Many copper coins I've cleaned this way end up tarnishing again slowly. Some stay clean and pristine. I've never used any protection, but I think the first thing which contacts the clean copper makes a difference. More research is necessary. :)
I want to buy an Indian RP genuine coin.
what if I have a mixture of the two metals (Brass and Silver) that compose the the main part of my neck piece? can I use this process and then use the silver trick shown in your other video for the second treatment, or is there a universal cleaning process/product I can try?
I have a question, I just cleaned some near new pennies that where only slightly tarnished following your vinegar & salt formula and took them out as soon as they brightened up (10 sec). I gave them a quick baking soda dip and then rinsed them off with tap water........why did some of them turn yellow? I thought maybe it was the chlorine in the water and so I dipped them back in the vinegar mix (they cleared up quick), baking soda and then rinsed them in distilled water most of them turned out pristine and some still yellow. Any ideas what I did wrong?
I know what you're talking about. You didn't really do anything wrong, and what you did can be undone. There's no harm in experimenting a little. Pay close attention to the residue left on the coins when you do the last rinse.
there is no need to apply baking soda if the first process makes them good.WHAT U DO KNOW TAKE THAT YELLOWISH COINS AGAIN INTO THE VINEGAR AND SALT MIXTURE BUT PUT MORE SALT INTO THTE MIXTURE
I only remove loose dirt from coins and keep the patina. Too through a cleaning can decrease the numismatic value of a coin.
Yes, this exact thing is said in the video.
Ah the wonders of baking soda! Tooth paste, a crackerjack heartburn cure, and coin cleaner!
Iodized salt?
"Used to use regular 'steak-sauce' to clean some coins long ago, but only the slitest trace ( most washed out) on a tissue, then left wrapped for a few hours. "
I used vinegar and salt but, a few days later they started to turn!How can I prevent this?Since baking soda is a neutralizer, could I use that to stop the coins from turning after the vinegar and salt solution?Thanks again.
Yes, I often give them a light rinse off with baking soda and water, and notice toning differences in the coins. PH very likely has something to do with it. Also keep your skin oils off the coins once they're clean. Experiment with it, the materials are cheap and you're not harming the metal.
Thank you so much.
I HAVE A 1881cc MORGAN SILVER DOLLAR I AM LOOKING TO DSEND TO PCGS NEW RESTORATION SERVICE WHEN I CAME ACROSS YOUR VID, MY COIN IS SILVER WITH VG DETAILS BUT IS VERY DIRTY. THE COLOR IA BLACK NOT SILVER. WOULD YOU CLEAN THIS COIN OR SEND TO PCGS RESTORATION SERVICE. I WOULD LIKE TO GET IT GRADED BUT THEN I AM UNSURE IF IT IS WORTH IT
will rain water devalue coins? how about coins placed in flooded ground for a while; was it devalued?
Water doesn't devalue coins too badly. Sometimes uneven colour changes from water can be unattractive and reduce value, but most coins are made from metals that don't react much with water. Some metals are better than others, of course. Gold coins from the bottom of the ocean are perfectly intact and even shiny after hundreds of years in saltwater.
i am here after scrubbing copper with baking soda all day
you should never do this to old or valuable coins (not that the ones in the video were)
i suppose it makes them look "Nice" or whatever but it destroys the value
cool technique for cleaning junk coins though!
great video! i have just found a rare coin, 3rd rarest for my country! one side is ok but the head side is black/green! what would you sugest for this coin! (has been in the ground for 90plus years)
also with the vinegar/salt could you keep the mixture in a jar for repeted uses? cheers
Congrats on finding a rare copper coin! If you think it's also valuable, ask a local coin professional for their advice. But if you'd like to try cleaning it, start off with warm water and soap. After that, if you decide to continue cleaning it, this vinegar/salt method would be next. That super dark green colour is a result of many years of patina, so it would be interesting to see how it turns out.
The vinegar/salt mixture can be kept and reused, but it is cheap to make and gets dirty rather quickly so I usually don't bother.
I have 4 one cents in USA what of this one in year 2004
What of value of 2004 one cents my questions
Give me answer the question of the value of 2004 one cents pls! Answer me
Dr, Utter is currently in Surgery and he will be removing patina today. Watch and Enjoy !!!
It's all about the presentation and the condition of the coin, everyone says, yet they don't want you to clean it or do anything to preserve it. Does that make any sense? It doesn't. So what do they want really?
Cleaning is the opposite of preserving. Imagine if you had a nice car to take to the car show, and you see a small rust spot on the back of the car, so you wipe your entire car in steel wool.
They want you to PAY them to clean it THEY are the coin grading companies only THEY are aloud to CLEAN them
And yes they do clean them
I put chlorine and vinegar and put all coins inside a bowl. it moved from copper to everything. Hardest part was to remove copper from brass. I don't care for numismatic but i do care for my coins to be clean. I used very fine metal whool. But the little cracks won't come off. I will try this method to clean the copper layer from brass. That pink I got too :(
the little cracks??? sounds like an error coin. You use steel wool that ruins coins RUINS them. Get new bullion but stop destroying coins just to make them shinny and all scratched. Hmmm the color isnt right hhmm I wonder why???
richcali21 the copper is so deep into brass that you think its alloy. its a personal collection, the value is set by me for me. I wish I could show you the polish. Also, the tear is the same with the people that used it.
Would it matter if you used hot or cold water
Heat speeds up the reaction but isn't necessary.
Mine turned like 1943 steel
Nce video, but can't understand. . . 1:06
Does anybody can explain how copper coins cleaning can affect numismatic value ???
Imo cleaned coin are way more easy to read and see all small details on it. O_o
Good video. Thanks for sharing. In what field is your PhD?
great video my freind like
Sorry, just had to say that is not the Statue of Liberty. That is Britannia. As in rule?
+Ross Bennett the statue of liberty is also copper
I just found a very rare coin at work. its a one penny coin from 1923 king George the 6. i want to clean it but without damaging the coin. SO do i try your method out or go to a expert.
Always go to an expert first before you clean a rare coin! You can rinse the coin with soapy water, and maybe a little baking soda but I wouldn't do anything else without checking with an expert.
If it's very rare as you say, and you're not familiar with these methods, do more research or take it to somebody who knows more. I agree with sarahfish.
Hawksquawks lol
You don't clean it.
video utile...I Subscribe....un caro saluto da Roma ,collezionista di coins italiane ed euro...grazie
Who's going to buy a green coin with out being able to read the dates ornot even can see anything you have no choice but to clean them
Can you substitute balsamic vinegar
Not ideally but yes.
How do you stop the coins from tarnishing after the air contacts the coins after using your 2 part solution?Thanks a lot for your video.
Glad you liked it. Yes, using a warm solution (or even hot) is fine, but I haven't found it necessary.
Some people rub vegetable (or other) oil onto their coins with a cloth, to prevent tarnishing in the air after removing patina. I prefer to just dry them off, and then not handle them with my bare fingers. The contact with air will slowly (but evenly) colour the coin surface, usually in an attractive way that doesn't disrupt the coin's features. Fingerprints leave oily marks that discolour badly over time. If you don't like how the coin colours after a few months or years, you can always clean it again and start over, since it doesn't harm the metal.
i use it right now hope i know whats the coin thats in my family from 100 years after it was digged out in the garden
have you tried to clean coins with eraser?
Daniel Adam I tried it and it worked really good!
Can you at least run the coin through water to remove the mud/dirt if its a high value coin?
+TheBlindMailman XB1 In 99.999% of circumstances, a coin with a high collector value will always have a higher value WITHOUT removing the patina.
Think of it this way. Would you rather buy a car with a bad paint job, or a car where a person used a piece of sandpaper to remove a paint job? If you buy a car with a bad paint job, you ALWAYS have the option of taking that car to a painting specialist to remove the bad paint job in EXACTLY the manner you want. Hell, you might even be a person who collects cars specifically because they have a bad paint job.
But if the person you were buying the car from removed the paint and repainted the car, you'd have no way of going back to the original paint job, even if you wanted.
In my experience, coin collectors want to keep coins as they have naturally developed. Removing the paint job removes parts of the coin, history of the coin, and options in relation to the coin.
It's not the best analogy, buy in general, people buying non-mint-condition coins will pay less for a coin that's been PURPOSEFULLY tampered with. If they're buying a non-perfect coin, they're generally looking for all of the history behind the coin.
What if I leave it soaking for a whole day?
it will become flat or dissolve, just like mine became
Do you collect British pennies, or did you purchase these for this demo?
I've been collecting those for a while, I really like them.
@@drutter I just asked because I am an American who collects everything British, Aussie, NZ, UK. I would collect Canadian, but your country never had the big copper pennies.
@@ejtattersall156 Our pennies were pretty huge in 1920 and earlier. They've been the classic small size since then. In the mid 1800s we had some truly massive pennies here!
@@drutter Canadian pennies were the size of British half pennies before 1922. Then they were reduced to American cent sized. I like those big L.s.d. bronzes.
@@ejtattersall156 Both the large and the small Canadian penny were produced in 1920.
For mildly dirty coins try WD-40. His process works but only for rubbish coins.
Please suggest how to clean brass handles attached with furniture..
British one cent?
What to do if it turns pink?
+Vin Garcia If it turns pink, there might be a base metal under the coating. I've had "gold" presidential/sacagawea dollars turn pink. This is because the outside coating isn't the same as the metal filling the coin. I would immagine that you might get the same sort of thing going on with any plated coin (Like a copper coin with gold plating, or a post 1982 penny)
عندي عملة خمسة سنت امريكي سنة ١٩٦٢.. وعملة فرنسية وعملة اسبانية للبيع
you can also clean coins with ketchup
+coin collector That's because ketchup has a decent amount of vinegar in it. If you want to clean your coins, vinegar will do a better job with a lower likelihood of forming dry-ketchup-gunk.
would this be recomended on a large cent
ALL YOUR BASE METAL ARE BELONG TO US!!!
- Royal Canadian Mint and Government of Canada
hi sir, can i ask, if i use water and a common household bar of soap, and wash the coin with my bare hands and soap for about 30 seconds, then rinse and pat dry with a towel, would this ruin a valuable the coin?? ........i know i should never clean a coin but i did before i found out about the value of patina, the coin is 75% copper and 25% nickle, a british 50 pence coin
@@brockcharz2104 I can't see the particular coin of course, but in most cases what you describe won't damage a coin like that. You can try with just plain water first if you aren't sure.
@@drutter oh right, thank you very much
I found a 1953 Coin, its worth 60$
Apparently its "Limited edition."
Essence Studios 1953 what?
I left it for 2 days. They turned pink and know they wont go back.
I did the same thing ;( LOL
It will eventually get a patina over time
The really dark coin is an Edward VII penny.
I'm trying to make the wording on a 1894 copper/ nickel token more legible. Will this process lighten that up?
Nickel is pretty tough to clean. If the alloy is too heavy in nickel and not in copper, it probably won't have much effect. Give it a shot if the token isn't valuable, or if all else fails.
Is a eraser safe to use on a copper coin? please tell me.
A clean eraser would likely be safe to use on copper, but it might not have a useful effect on that metal. Maybe try on a copper coin with no value first, to see what happens.
@@drutter Thx
I don't see any harm to the coin yet I tink its safe but ill let u know of anything happens.
@@drutter if anything happens*
@@aal8083 Alright, best of luck. The main technique I've used for copper is salty vinegar, but that strips off all the patina/tarnish and dirt. If you want to clean a copper coin, that's a good way, but if the coin has numismatic value then I don't recommend that method,
Why won't coin collectors like it?
Because cleaned coins look ugly and unoriginal.
If you mix your new coins with old. Is fine or not
Is fine.
Can the opening music
The video is already made and uploaded - it can't be edited now. You'll just have to adjust your volume for the first 23 seconds if you watch again. Thanks for your great comment.
SHIT I CLEANED MY 1909 VBD LINCOLN PENNY!! OMG 😲
Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit omg omg omg etc
This is how they removed the dirt and tarnish from the Sistine Chapel. Too bad it destroyed its value.
Dr. Utter... How did I miss that all this time? You'll always be "Drutter" to me... lol!
If you use baking soda use a small bowl, line it with aluminium foil then put the baking soda into the bowl add the coin pour in hot boiling water, put some more baking soda & after 10 mins or so wash in cold water. then repeat - your way of baking soda in the hand with cold water doesn't work. check out other videos.
15 years experience tells me you're new to this and don't know what you're talking about. You need some hands on learning. Keep watching videos though, it helps.
1:11 A copper coin doesn't have a face value (it's copper) no more copper coins are made for currency
It doesn't matter if they are being made for currency or not, the face value remains in place until the country of issue no longer exists. So a Canadian penny will always have 1 cent or purchasing power in Canada.
To me a clean coin has more value. dirty coins look like shet.