Handling Collectible Coins

One of the lessons new coin collectors must learn is the proper handling of collectible coins. Failure to learn this lesson can lead you to devalue your coins by causing noticeable wear. After all, the value of a collectible coin is directly related to its condition.

The general idea is that you want to directly handle your coins as little as possible. When you do handle it, you want to handle it properly. You can still enjoy your coins and safely handle them indirectly, if you put them in protective coin cases. The only time your collectible coins should ever be taken out of their protective cases is when they are being graded.

Basic Tips for Handling Collectible Coins

The coins you should never remove from their cases are your uncirculated coins and proof coins. Many of these come in sealed cases and immediately lose most of their value if the cases have been opened. Any oil from your fingers or smudges on the coins in those cases that can be opened will devalue the coins.

Coins should be handled by the edges, where smudges and finger oils will be less apparent. An even better option is to wear surgical gloves whenever you handle your coins. It may sound a bit paranoid, but you should also be careful not to breathe on your coins, as the humidity from your mouth or nose may cause spots to form on the coin surfaces. If you are a particularly cautious coin collector, a surgical mask is not a bad idea.

A clean, soft surface is recommended when you are setting an unprotected coin down. Spreading some velvet padding over surfaces is a good, common practice among coin collectors. Soft cloth can be a substitute surface on a limited bases. You should never rub or roll your coin across any type of surface, as even a flat surface may have a small bit of dust or sand that could cause a scratch.

A common mistake made by novice coin collectors is cleaning or polishing valuable coins. The actions involved in cleaning a coin can actually cause further, irreversible surface damage to the coin. Polish is a foreign substance and greatly devalues your coins. Experienced collectors and coin dealers not only recommend against cleaning or polishing, but they can spot the signs that this has been done to a coin and devalue the coin accordingly. They typically use magnification devices that will show any smears and scratches you make on the coin. Coin dealers and expert collectors want coins as close to their original forms as possible, even if they look dirty.

This doesn’t mean coin cleaning is bad. It simply means that amateur coin cleaning is bad. The professionals would rather get a valuable, dirty coin and have it professionally cleaned than a valuable, damaged coin. Professional coin cleaning is not unlike professional restoration of a painting. There are very special chemicals, techniques, and processes that can do the job without causing any damage to the coin surface. But of course, this is only feasible for very valuable coins.

If you have lesser value coins in your collection that you just want to have clean for your own enjoyment, there are a couple of things you can do to clean your coins that won’t be as damaging to your coins. For example, some people soak their coins for a few days in olive oil. This is followed by a few days of soaking in soapy water to get the oil off of the coins. After this you rinse thoroughly with distilled water, being careful not to get any finger prints or debris on the coins. Drying can be done most effectively with compressed error. Cloth should not be used to dry a coin.

You have probably noticed that your coins have some funny chemical processes occurring on their surfaces. This is referred to as “toning” in the world of coin collecting. It is usually a reaction to sulfur. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to reverse toning. Professionals have a special chemical process they use to remove the toning compounds from the surface of coins to prevent it. But, interestingly, sometimes a slow, natural toning process increases the value of a coin.