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Know Common Cents
Penny Pincher Member
195 Posts |
 Posted - 01/15/2008 : 17:32:38
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I raise my hand as one of the purists who still sorts by hand. That's primarily because I wouldn't have the storage room to house a couple tons of copper anyway.
Hand sorting means that the sorter encounters all weird varieties of strange looking crud and oxidation. While learning quite awhile ago not to eat while sorting, I'm still perplexed by the junk that still passes for coin of the realm.
Some of the cents (mostly the zinkers) are completely white with oxidation. Others have blobs of tar, dirt, paint, plating and mystery substances. I really wonder how some of these can actually make it through the coin counter at my friendly bank.
For the crud cents of the Cu composition is there any way to salvage these by a bath in some household cleaner? Rather labor intensive to try to clean them up individually, I'd say.
Some coppers are in such bad shape that I feel obligated to boomerang them back to the bank with the zinkers. Cu is Cu after all and I can certainly tolerate pennies that have been hammered, gouged, bent and just plain worn. There's a limit, though, as the hand sorting shouldn't make me feel like having a bottle of alcohol-base hand cleaner next to the "savers" bucket.
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Here in Wisconsin, we have some of the highest property and gasoline taxes in the US. We're squeezed so much, I have to make my daughter wear penny boxes for shoes. At least she has an endless supply. |
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El Dee
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
547 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2008 : 17:38:42
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Try soaking in extra strength vinegar overnight. See how that works.
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Trust the government? Ask an Indian. |
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NotABigDeal
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2008 : 17:45:26
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Eat 'em....Or send 'em to me.
Deal |
Live free or die.
Plain and simple.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your council or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2008 : 18:00:42
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Two ideas to clean the junky pennies-
1. vinegar and table salt mixture, any kind of vinegar will do (white, clear, apple cider vinegar, etc.)
You will have to experiment with the ratios of how much salt goes with how much vinegar (sorry I can't recall the exact ratio.)
The plus side is it cleans the pennies up in a few minutes.
2. The expensive route, buy a rock tumbler (the cheap kind that comes with stones ready to polish and polishing powder, sells for $35-$45)
Put the dirty pennies and dry sand in the tumbler, seal it up and let it tumble away. Use sand instead of the polishing powder.
This is the same principle for cleaning empty brass rifle cartridges, the sand acts like a sand blaster getting rid of the gunk.
Rock tumblers can be bought in hobby shops or toy stores that have a hobby section.
Good luck cleaning those crud covered coins. |
Edited by - pencilvanian on 01/15/2008 18:02:00 |
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Miser-stro
Penny Sorter Member
74 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2008 : 18:35:35
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A couple days ago I got the nastiest $25 box of pennies I have seen to date. There were several rolls that I broke open, that the pennies were in 2 or 3 separate "clumps" and sticky & gooey on top of that. You always have to count your time. Is it worth the few coppers you MIGHT find AFTER cleaning and sorting them. I rolled them right back up, marked them with an X, and plan on spending them at a gas station where people don't know who I am, nor do I visit often.
I don't know about you all, but they can keep some on their copper cents in circulation. (Or throw them away after I put them back in circulation, getting my face value out of them.)
Miser-stro |
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fiatboy
Administrator
912 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2008 : 20:09:23
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I like pencilvanian's suggestions. I'd also like to recommend Joy liquid dishwashing soap.
But if the coins are really nasty, I do what Miser-stro does and just return 'em. It's not worth it sometimes, and unlike a few members here, I don't mind releasing some copper back into the wild. |
"Bart, it's not about how many stocks you have, it's about how much copper wire you can get out of the building." --- Homer Simpson |
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starwarsgeek171
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2008 : 21:16:46
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| Take a larger bottle of spicy V8 vegatable juice (1/3 - half full). Fill with a few handfulls of pennies. Put cover back on and shake for a minute or two. Leave the bottle on your counter. Everytime you happen to be walking by, vigorously shake it again. In about 24 hours, you will have cleaned a vast majority of your coins. You will be surprised with the results. Do NOT do this with coins that may have any numismatic value. |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 01:41:03
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| After I drink this will I have copper in my blood? Does it improve the taste? That spicy V8 is kind of expensive, but it does taste pretty good.. even before adding copper. |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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Epaphras
Penny Collector Member
USA
382 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 07:24:09
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quote:
Originally posted by Miser-stro
A couple days ago I got the nastiest $25 box of pennies I have seen to date. There were several rolls that I broke open, that the pennies were in 2 or 3 separate "clumps" and sticky & gooey on top of that. You always have to count your time. Is it worth the few coppers you MIGHT find AFTER cleaning and sorting them. I rolled them right back up, marked them with an X, and plan on spending them at a gas station where people don't know who I am, nor do I visit often.
I don't know about you all, but they can keep some on their copper cents in circulation. (Or throw them away after I put them back in circulation, getting my face value out of them.)
Miser-stro
Whenever I get customer rolls, I cross my fingers hoping the rolls aren't 'junk rolls'. I purchased some rolls from a coin dealer (wheats and memorials) and three out of ten were complete trash. I did not even waste my time sorting for a few good ones. Those coins, as well as badly damaged coins I throw in the zinc bin to go back into circulation. |
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starwarsgeek171
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 16:26:52
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| HoardCopper, I wouldn't suggest drinking the sludge from the bottle! That's why you save the other 2/3 and mix it with Absolute 100! Maybe a dash of Mrs. T.'s! Zinc, copper, zinc, zhinc, copp-er, hic...zingk, coppa, hic...uh...zenk...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 19:48:47
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| zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz dreaming of pennies... |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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starwarsgeek171
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 20:48:06
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 Always! Tonight, I was quite surprised to hear my wife say that she'd be glad to get in on the action now and then! She's come a long way, and I think she's finally getting it. Happy Hoarding! |
Edited by - starwarsgeek171 on 01/16/2008 20:50:03 |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 21:09:23
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Better find out exactly what she means by "getting in on the action" It could mean she would be happy to take care of spending the proceeds for you. It could mean she is willing to haul zinc back to the bank.. of course I think one guy here has a girlfriend that does that for him, but he says he never sees the money again to buy more pennies with.
Know Common Cents.. you would be surprised at how little space it takes to store a couple of tons.. they are heavier than zinc cents. |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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n/a
deleted
4 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2008 : 09:19:02
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Has anyone tried 'cooking' their cruddy coppers in a self-cleaning oven? I think that the clean cycle runs at like 900 degrees. Since the melting point of the 95% copper is 1981 degrees and the 5% zinc is 787 degrees, I think it would be okay. I know that it's over the melt point of the zinc, but since it's only 5% of the total composition, I would think that it would stay intact.
My thought is that the crud might cook off and leave the penny behind unscathed.
Thoughts? |
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Tourney64
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1035 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2008 : 12:21:55
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My wife was happy to help me. She would take the zincs back to the bank, and then spend the money. She would come back empty handed and then complain that she was embarassed about doing it. I couldn't afford her helping me any more, so now I take them to the bank.
Regarding the vinegar. It will not only eat the crud, but the penny. You need to dilute it.
Zinc, when melted gives off a poisonous gas. Be careful with the pennies in the oven. |
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Penny Crud
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