How to Clean & Grade Coins

Cleaning

• 1

  Use a weak acid to clean old coins. Warm vinegar is one of the most common and easy to find cleaning agents, but it may not work for really dirty coins. Lemon juice tends to clean coins slightly better than vinegar, but it may also damage the coin. You can also use specific silver or gold cleaning agents.

• 2

  If the coin is not terribly dirty, put a small amount of the cleaning agent on a tissue or a slice of a raw potato and softly rub it against the coin.

• 3

  Put the cleaning agent into a glass container of any kind. Immerse the coin in the liquid. The amount of time that the coin will remain submerged will depend on how dirty the coin is. Don't leave the coin in for more than a day without checking on it.

• 4

  Remove the coin from the cleaning agent and rinse it under running water.

• 5

  Dry the coin with a tissue or cloth.

Grading

• 6

  Buy a coin price guide. Ensure that the guide specializes in the coins that you want to grade and has a section on grading specific coins. Every coin has slightly different grading criteria.

• 7

  Familiarize yourself with coin grades. The basic coin grades are poor, fair, good, fine, extra fine and uncirculated. A poor grade is identifiable in both type and year; a fair coin is well worn with only a small bit of detail remaining; a good coin is well worn but with greater detail than a fair coin; a fine coin shows some wear but has sharp lettering; an extra fine coin has very good detail, although some high points will still be worn; and an uncirculated coin will look brand new. There are other grades in between these, but these are the most basic coin grades.

• 8

  Examine your coin to determine a rough grade. Use your coin guide look up the specific things that affect the grade of your coin. A dealer can accurately grade a coin for you if you are having trouble.