Learn how to CLEAN COINS with toothpaste at home. When you use TOOTHPASTE to clean coins, you get IMMEDIATE RESULTS!
RELATED VIDEO: Other Ways To CLEAN COINS Yourself At Home
RELATED ARTICLE: How To Clean Coins Safely
WARNING: all DIY methods of coin cleaning will damage the coins! This video is for demonstration purposes only on coins that are only worth face value. If you’re thinking of cleaning coins with Toothpaste… you’ll want to watch this video first!
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⚡TIMESTAMPS FROM THE VIDEO⚡
00:00 – How To Clean Coins With Toothpaste
00:12 – Reasons NOT To Clean Coins With Toothpaste
00:34 – How To Clean A Penny Using Toothpaste
01:02 – Why A Coin’s Natural Color (Patina) Is Important
01:25 – Lighten Dark-Colored Coins With Toothpaste
01:34 – Apply Toothpaste To A Coin Using Your Fingers
02:00 – Start With A Dry Finger And Some Toothpaste
02:13 – Rub Toothpaste Into The Coin With Your Fingers
02:24 – Clean Pennies With Zinc Core & Copper Outer Layer
02:43 – My Experience Cleaning Pennies With Toothpaste
03:08 – Result 1 After Cleaning FRONT Of Coin w/Toothpaste
04:47 – Result 2 After Cleaning BACK Of Coin w/Toothpaste
05:07 – Rinse Coin Using Cold Water (NOT Hot)
05:32 – Coins Cleaned With Toothpaste Are Lighter In Color
05:44 – Use A Soft, White Cloth To Pat (NOT Rub) Coin Dry
06:00 – End Result After Cleaning A Penny With Toothpaste
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, this is Josh with The Fun Times Guide to Coins and I want to show you how to clean a coin using toothpaste.
Now, this is a very common question we get: “How do you clean coins?” And my answer typically is: YOU DON’T. Because cleaning coins can actually ruin their value by way of permanently damaging the outer surface of the coin. What happens when you use an abrasive cleaning agent like toothpaste, for example, is you actually strip away the very top layer of metal on the outside of the coin. In this case, we’ve got a coin here that has seen some life in a couple of years.
This is a 2019 Denver (or 2019-D) Lincoln cent. And as you can see… this coin in about 3 years or less has seen some uh environmental damage, you would say. Or maybe at the very least has seen some maybe sulfur oxide or exposure to other fumes and other chemicals that have given it this very dark patina. Now I as a collector actually appreciate this original patina. I know some might think it’s ugly… too dark… that’s your call. But a lot of collectors tend to like original toning that can be seen on coins. I really would not want to remove this from this coin. But for the sake of showing you how to clean a coin with toothpaste, I’d like to go ahead and use this coin – which I think will make a great example for this video. Because it is so dark and the toothpaste is so abrasive, you should see some immediate results using toothpaste on a coin like this. So, let’s go ahead. I have a very common brand of toothpaste right here… one of the best. And I will go ahead and apply it to the surface of the coin using my fingers to rub the toothpaste in and to remove the patina. And as cleaning abrasively so often goes… removing also the very top layer of metal from this coin as well. So I’ll go ahead and I’ll use the toothpaste on a dry finger. I’ve not wet my fingers yet (using the sink nearby here to dilute the toothpaste) that I’ll want the thickest, most viscous form of toothpaste to be able to get that patina off. And I’m gonna rub it just for a minute or so to try and work in that toothpaste in all the little crevices and corners – and remove what I can of that dark patina.
Now, a 2019 Denver Lincoln cent… that is actually struck from a zinc… or rather a planchet with a zinc core. And a pure copper outer layer. So while the coin on the exterior is copper, the coin is actually mostly zinc. I have tended to find in my own little experimentation that cleaning pennies using toothpaste I find tends a little bit more effective using this method on a coin that is a bronze composition — which is 95% copper and 5% zinc OR 5% tin and zinc (based on the year of the Lincoln cent involved). Well, you can see already… there’s a difference there in the way this coin looks. You can see that the high points (which are, for example, Lincoln’s cheek, his jawbone, his jacket, his coat, and his hair) looks a lot lighter now than it did about 30 seconds ago. I’m going to keep on rubbing this toothpaste in pretty aggressively. Of course, if I go too hard, I risk slipping that coin out of my very greasy… or not greasy… but my slippery fingers right now with the toothpaste on them. But you can see…
Yes! This toothpaste definitely has an effect on the surface. And as really any common toothpaste should do… (Most are pretty abrasive because again the goal of toothpaste is to move plaque and other debris from your teeth.) You’ll find that toothpaste works in a very similar fashion to baking soda, or baking soda paste – which is oftentimes a mixture of baking soda and water mixed to a ratio where the baking soda paste is pretty thick. So a little more baking soda than water in that case. You know, I could probably go on here for a few minutes and give this coin a nice… we’ll say a nice wash and make it look pretty bright. But you can already see here after just about a minute or so of using toothpaste to clean this coin, it has an effect. And the longer and more thoroughly you rub the toothpaste into the coin, it’ll look brighter and brighter. So let’s go ahead…
You see here, there is an effect. The high points are a lot lighter than they were a couple of minutes ago. The back probably less so – I’ve not really rubbed the back too much. Maybe by consequence of holding the coin in my toothpastey hand there’s a little bit of an effect on the back. But I didn’t really work on the back though. (Or the reverse, which is the official term for the back or tail’s side of the coin. The obverse being the official term for the head’s side of the coin at the front of the coin.) Let’s go ahead and rinse off this toothpaste. And as you see, I pulled the stopper up – so the coin does not fall down the drain. I’m using cold water. Because when you use hot water on coins, you can actually affect the surface color because high temperatures can cause a coin to tone artificially. You know, you can see the light. This coin is more reflective than it was a couple of minutes ago. So definitely the toothpaste helped in cleaning the coin and removing that dark patina. That should be good. Now I’m going to use a soft cloth to gently pat the surface dry. And note this is a white cloth. I don’t like to use fabrics that are dyed – because sometimes a dye can actually rub off onto the coin. Or the chemicals in the dye can alter the coin’s surface. And yeah, here we go.
We’ve got a 2019 Denver Lincoln cent that is definitely a lot more legible now and brighter. I really don’t recommend cleaning coins – especially in this fashion with abrasives like toothpaste. But if you want to clean your coins using toothpaste, you can see it’s definitely an effective method for getting the job done. So, there you have it… A 2019 Denver Lincoln cent that’s been cleaned using toothpaste, and as you can see the toothpaste is definitely effective on removing the patina and making the coin appear lighter and brighter. Thanks for watching! Please comment if you feel inclined to do so below. Like and share! And thank you for watching this video.
