Ketchup on Pennies
 

I was told Ketchup on a penny would clean them. I took a 1988 penny that was severely dirty and put Ketchup on it and lo and behold the next day I wiped it off and that one side was spotless.

I was wondering if this was an appropriate way to clean pennies. What if I found an old penny would cleaning it this way make it lose its value?

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Unfortunately the amount of ketchup you need to clean each penny is probably worth more than the penny.

Just kidding, couldn't resist. :D

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

http://www.fnesc.bc.ca/Attachments/P...20Book%207.pdf

:bull-buddy-icon:

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Just don't eat it:D

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Been using Taco Bell's Hot Sauce packets since I was a kid. I wouldn't use it on silver or gold though.

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Its the acid in the ketchup, mostly the vinegar. You dont have to leave it overnight either, just a few minutes, if that. You can leave it a glass of vinegar as well for a little longer, let it soak and and then wipe it clean ;)

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Never knew that about the vinegar......... good info to know.

Thanks H



T

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Ketchup, vinegar, lemon juice...anything with an acidic base will do the trick. However, cleaning anything worth more than face value will destroy the collector appeal (and value) of the coin.

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Just use plain old vinegar to clean the pennies, and save the ketchup for french fries.

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Lemon juice and salt works best ....1quart lemon juice + 1/2 cup salt (roughly), I mix it different ways depending on what I want to do with it, my company does a lot of architectural copper work, I've used many gallons over the years , depending on the desired affect new vs patina or tarnished.

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

White vinegar and salt mixture is a good way to clean gold too...both bullion and native colors.

Fill a spice jar half-full with table salt then fill it up with white vinegar. Screw the lid tight & gently shake then set it down & occasionally shake it when you walk by. The gold will look clean and bright in a couple of days.

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Don't forget to toss in a shot of tequila with that :wink:

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/thing...o-clean-coins/
Don�t Scrub That Coin, My Friend.

Before you go to town on that dirty coin with the silver polish, find out more about it. Who knows, it could be one of the dollars George Washington supposedly threw across the Potomac (presumably where the river is about five feet wide). Should the coin have his picture on it, that�s generally (no pun intended) a tip off that he didn�t throw that particular one. But it could still be valuable!

Before you do anything, assess its value. If you can�t look up the coin yourself in the PCGS coin price guide, take it to a reputable coin dealer and ask him whether it�s worth anything. If it is, don�t even think about cleaning it.


Cleaning affects the value of collectible coins, and definitely doesn�t increase them. The patina a coin builds up over the years is part of its total essence, its history, like the patina on old silverware. Remove it, and you can reduce its value by as much as 90%! Collectors value coins with attractive patinas, which actually protect the coin�s surface.
Coin Report Cards

The way collectors establish the value of a coin is by grading it, an art rather than a science. Grades run from the top grade, a score of 70: �Mint, un-circulated,� which means there is no sign of wear on the coin. The bottom classification is �Basal,� which means �A lump of metal barely identifiable as a coin�. No amount of cleaning or polishing is going to raise a coin from one grade to another. In fact, the two major companies that grade coins, PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and NGC (Numismatic Guarantee Corporation), refuse to grade coins that have been washed and/or polished. It�s the amount of wear and tear on a coin that counts towards its value, not how �pretty� it is.

Should you be a collector or intend to become one with this very coin, you definitely don�t want to clean or polish it unless you have just discovered it with a metal detector and dug it out of the ground. Once any metal has been exposed to the air, it�s going to oxidize, or tone. If you strip the coin of this toning, not only will you lose any remaining mint luster, the coin will appear harsh and unappealing, and it will suffer microscopic abrasions that lower its grade.

For coins that are not particularly valuable, there are only a couple of reasons for washing them. One is when they are going to be incorporated into jewelry and therefore should look nice. The other is to render them less communicable as reservoirs of disease germs. Otherwise, why bother?
How to Clean a Coin
If you�re going to do it, you might as well do it right:

1. Handle the coin by the edges to leave no fingerprints. (Not because you stole it, but because fingerprints transfer caustic oils from your fingers to the coin.)
2. Avoid abrasives. Commercial coin polish, however, can be used if the coin is not valuable. Toothpaste may also work.
3. Run warm water over the coin for about a minute, preferably using water under some pressure.
4. Soak the coin from a few hours to a week or two until any deposits disappear. Soak gold coins in hot soapy water.
5. Bronze, silver, copper, or nickel coins go in distilled water or olive oil (but, for some reason, not virgin olive oil) to keep from tainting the coins further.
6. Tough stains can be removed with white vinegar. Or try soaking silver coins in lemon juice for a few minutes. Others suggest putting the coin in a cup of cola drink, though this is going to leave a sticky residue.
7. Always follow any one of these baths by washing the coin in denatured alcohol.
8. When soaking, don�t mix different metals together.
9. Rinse the coin under very warm water.
10. Lightly brush any remaining dirt off the coin with a soft toothbrush and dish soap. Apply little pressure.
11. Pat the coin dry with a soft, lint-free cloth, then lay the coin on a soft, dry cloth to finish drying. Do not rub the coin dry.
12. Spot-clean encrusted dirt with a toothpick without scratching the surface of the coin.
13. Hot sauce can be used to burn some dirt off coins; cola drinks can make them shiny. (Gives you pause about eating a lot of hot sauce or drinking a lot of Coke, doesn�t it?)

How to Clean Mineralization From a Coin

There is at least one special case where valuable coins should be cleaned: those that have been fished out of the ocean; in other words, salvage booty.

The standard method for removing coral calcification and mineralization from such coins is to clean them in an electrolysis bath. It�s not simple:

1. Buy or build an electrolysis bath.
2. Mix calcium carbonate (obtained at pool supply stores) one part to 48 parts of distilled water inside an electrolysis unit.
3. Avoid running with a high electric current, which will peel away metal from the coin.
4. Fix the distance between the anode and cathode poles to avoid having the current take metal off the coin.
5. Never leave the coin unattended.
6. When done, rinse the coin in clean distilled water.
7. After rinsing, and using distilled water � not the stuff you�ve already used, repeat the electrolysis process without the calcium carbonate to remove all traces of the electrolyte from the coin.

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Hey I forgot I asked this. Thanks for the info guys. This is a good thread to bookmark for future reference.

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

Collecting is an emotional thing. Maybe someday in the future someone will laugh at us because of this, "You mean you WANTED them to look old and tarnished when you could have them nice and shimmering? What were you thinking?"

Re: Ketchup on Pennies
 

I polished a penny awhile ago just for fun. :D I was learning how to polish before working on something real expensive, so I grabbed this penny. It is already starting to tarnish again. It is sad that it takes away the value of the coins, many of the older coins I have are black and rusty, it would be nice to see them shine. I am glad I searched this topic and didn't move onto any of my other coins. Good post j-son.