10pence

Cotton wool would leave tiny almost invisible hairline marks on a mirrored proof field - you really do have to treat those with the proverbial kid gloves. The more mirrored the surface, the more it's likely to show any contact. Think of a camera lens, then think of an ordinary bottle - the former shows marks much more easily. Good point, I will leave it alone, I can almost hear you wincing at the thought of me trying to clean this coin with soap and water or a cotton bud, looking at it again I can live with the mark weighed up against the risk of damage. Thank you for your patience and the sensible advice.

My own instinct would be - if it's a proof, don't touch it. ANY intervention on those would show up, even trying to remove a fingerprint. Others may differ, so I'd wait and see what they say? Your probably right. Another idea was a cotton bud with a dab of alchohol used very carefully on that area only. Trouble is the mark although only small is on a flat mirror like surface and I am worried it will become more obvious and stain over the years.

Here we go again, I have a 2010 proof £5 from ebay that on close examination shows a finger print. The coin is perfect other than the finger mark, am I right in thinking I have to remove this mark as in time it will stain? I want to clean it and looking through this thread the best method seems to be soap and water dabbed onto the coin then well rinsed and dabbed dry, I have lint free cotton cloth would this be ok or is it micro fibre or nothing else? Thanks again in advance

I have tried a few things on 2 pence coins and pretty much confirmed everything above, they might be clean but the colour changes or the details have a shadow where the brush or cloth cant clean, in the end the naturally discoloured coins look nicer than the cleaned ones. I suppose the only answer is to keep new coins in air tight packing or capsules. Thank you very much for the advice, I have lots more reading to do on this site. Jim

Hi, great forum and very useful. I want to clean some decimal coppers, 1/2p, 1p and 2p coins, I guess they will never be bright and shiny like a new coin but is there a particular product or any household fluids that you can recommend? Come to think any info on cleaning silver decimal coins also would be greatly appreciated or is there a thread on the forum with help for cleaning coins. many thanks Jim