Is it sacrilege to clean my pre-1947 UK sixpences?

[mik]

I got a job lot of these UK silver sixpences. 50% silver, varied dates 1920 - 1946. I got about 370 of them. I put aside about 70 of the most worn ones. I have a desire to put the remaining 300 in a couple of black velvet drawstring bags I have. For some reason, I want to feel like a merchant of olde, with ye bags of silver. I want them all nice and shiny. I can take them to work and shove them in the ultrasonic cleaner for 20 mins or so, and jet rinse them after. Would this be a terrible thing to do to these Edward VII and George V coins? At the moment to me they feel like bullion/jewellery but also have this numismatic/historic facet to them, and I'm torn about whether I would later regret cleaning them. Or if in the future I get bored of them and want to sell them, will I find it hard to shift them if they are cleaned? They're just low value old coins, aren't they? Will anyone care if they're polished and shiny?

[silvergaga]

They are yours to do as you wish.

I would buy clean sixpences if you get fed up with them.

I prefer shiny but toned silver is wonderful too.

[TeaTime]

The first thing to do is to roughly grade them. Anything better than fine or considered scarce will have a (small) numismatic premium - i.e 1923 - and shouldn't be cleaned. Anything less than fine and common, cleaning them will not really affect their value.

A lot of these type of coins are used as birthday or curiosity gifts so cleaning them happens frequently. Using an ultrasonic will not put scratches on the coin so i would say go for it. There's something very pleasing and appealing in jingling silver coins especially if they are shiny 😁

[BLOOMMAN101]

8 hours ago, mik said:

I got a job lot of these UK silver sixpences. 50% silver, varied dates 1920 - 1946. I got about 370 of them. I put aside about 70 of the most worn ones. I have a desire to put the remaining 300 in a couple of black velvet drawstring bags I have. For some reason, I want to feel like a merchant of olde, with ye bags of silver. I want them all nice and shiny. I can take them to work and shove them in the ultrasonic cleaner for 20 mins or so, and jet rinse them after. Would this be a terrible thing to do to these Edward VII and George V coins? At the moment to me they feel like bullion/jewellery but also have this numismatic/historic facet to them, and I'm torn about whether I would later regret cleaning them. Or if in the future I get bored of them and want to sell them, will I find it hard to shift them if they are cleaned? They're just low value old coins, aren't they? Will anyone care if they're polished and shiny?

good question mate, I was wondering the same thing you could clean a few and see what you think  or clean the worn ones as a test sample

[mik]

Thanks

I'll clean the worn ones, can't even read some of the dates on those, only good for metal content. I don't know why I didn't think of trying that. 

Then if I do clean the others, I will do a crude grading and put aside the best stuff.

😁

[BLOOMMAN101]

17 minutes ago, mik said:

Thanks

I'll clean the worn ones, can't even read some of the dates on those, only good for metal content. I don't know why I didn't think of trying that. 

Then if I do clean the others, I will do a crude grading and put aside the best stuff.

😁

Leave it a while mate and see if you get more replies from more knowledgeable members over the weekend,I'm a complete novice and would like more replies on the subject as well

[stefffana]

These coins are collected for fun and buying/selling usually around spot, their numismatic value is very close to 0.. A ultrasonic bath and a rinse can't hurt them. Have fun, these are yours. When the time to sell will come, the buyer won't be upset, he will buy them anyway at spot as a weight added to his silver stack.

I would not recommend to do this with other coins that may have an extrinsic numismatic value.🤗

[mik]

Yeah, sod it. I'm gonna have fun with these coins. They're, there to keep my stack fun and interesting.

[CANV]

shine em up ....  ! 

[sixgun]

You will go to coin hell now and for all eternity. There is no way back once you polish a coin.

[artalien]

5 hours ago, mik said:

They're, there to keep my stack fun and interesting

Shine one of each denomination leave the rest to posterity. Alternatively a handful is more than enough to satisfy. Don't PRESS HERE ....

[KevjustKev]

There's a nice young lad that has a YT vid on this very subject, who that lad is I have no idea.🤣

 

[mik]

I tried the ultrasonic cleaner at work, it was rubbish. In the end I cleaned them using boiling water and Bicarbonate of soda. Here's a photo comparing a sample. Cleaned (left) with uncleaned (right) there was some coins that seemed to have toned or stained and I couldn't seem to get them clean no matter how hard I tried.

Still I think they look a lot better cleaned.

[artalien]

This will make them shiny I found. Put them in small tub or bowl of boiling water with *lots* of fairy liquid. Let them sit and just take them out one at a time and rub at them with your thumb. Repeat till shiny. This is not financial advice 🙂

Best of luck @mik