How can I clean pennies?

Question

I have a whole bunch of pennies I wish to clean up and put in a penny book for my daughter, What common household things will do the trick? Instructions would be great.

Answer 1

soak in vinegar  then wipe off.Son did a 3rd grade science project on it years ago.

Answer 2

you can clean them with a copper polish or soak them in Coke overnight.

Answer 3

Brasso or Nevr-Dull. Use cotton balls and rub gently, and only enough to clean them, no more than that.

Answer 4

Any sort of metal polish can be used for this. Products such as Brasso in the UK and Australia, or whatever the equivalent is where you live.

Cleaning coins harms the collector value however, so only do this if the coins are just there to be looked at, not if the coins have a high value and you intend to resell them later.

Answer 5

Ketchup!

Seriously, put some ketchup in a bowl, drop in the pennies and smoosh them around a bit, then rinse them off. The really tarnished ones you'll have to use your fingers or a cloth to get the ketchup into the crevices.

Answer 6

chuck the pennies into a bucket with water and bicarb soda, agitate for a couple of minutes and wipe the pennies dry. tarnish should come off pretty easily.

Answer 7

The easiest way I know is with a regular pencil eraser! Just erase and the penny shines!

Answer 8

stir 1/4 cup of table salt into a cup of vinegar. Soak the pennies for about 15 minutes, then rub to get the surface shiny. wash in hot soapy water.

Coin collectors do not advise this as they want the age patina on the coins. Antique collectors want all the age "patina" on items as well. I don't! I want everything to be bright clean and shiny.

Answer 9

lemon juice. simply soak the pennies in a cup of lemon juice for about a day and then simply wipe off with a towel!

Answer 10

If these are at all collector coins, DO NOT clean them at all. It will decrease there value as collectible coins.  The US Numismatics Guild can give you information about how to build a collection that is certain to be of value in the future. The value may be emotional more than monetary, but well worth it.

If these are circulated coins of only cash value, take them to the bank and buy new ones and sort through them for more attractive pieces. When you buy money from a bank, the exchange rate is 1:1, at a coin shop it varies.  Buy several rolls of pennies at a time, rewrap them when going back next time, less what you are keeping.  This is the way most coin collectors start.