At this point take a look at your coin. Can you tell what the denomination is (penny, nickel, dime), even better can you tell what type of coin it is (Flying Eagle, Indian Head, Lincoln) or better yet can you tell what the date on the coin is? If you can determine the date you’re in great shape because you can probably tell if the coin has a mintmark.
Each coin type will have marks on it to tell you which mint it was made at. These are very important. There can literally be thousands of dollars of difference between two nearly identical coins with the only difference being where they were minted.
So if you know the type of coin you have and the date it was made I would recommend finding out where it was made. There are numerous places on the internet where you can find this information such as Coin Facts (insert link). Once you know where it was made you should be able to determine a rough value for the coin by either looking at an online priceguide such as numismedia or by looking up completed auctions on eBay.
Having a rough idea of the value of you coin should give you some guidance on which way to proceed in regards to your next cleaning steps. If you have a coin which has the potential to be a very valuable coin then please by all means do not pursue any other cleaning methods. There are professional restoration services available that can do a much better job than anything you’ll be able to accomplish. One of the most drastic examples I’ve seen of this is of a gentleman who cleaned a $10,000 Seated Liberty quarter into $1500 Seated Liberty quarter.
If you have a coin which you now know isn’t going to be worth much whether it’s cleaned or otherwise then feel free to read on.
The hard point is if you have a coin which is in the mid range of values. My personal recommendation is that if you can tell what type of coin you have, the date the coin was made, and where the coin was made you should stop the cleaning process.
I’m going to end this guide here. Although there are numerous chemical and mechanical methods that could be used on your find I don’t feel comfortable writing about them here as my personal feeling is that they have a much higher likelihood of doing harm than doing good.
Thank you; i have been looking for a proper cleaning solution, this one makes me wonder how many coins i have ruined lol, i have many books of different coins, (non of which i will sell, i am going to leave them to my Grandson.
hopefully he will take them and my hobby, of metal detecting. and put it to good use,and build up a good collection. Now that i have this solution to help me and him the collection will be worth more some day.I do want to thank you again, for this important info'. and i clicked (notify me) by E-Mail if and when you have more info.