How to Clean Coins. Skip links. Before you go to town on that dirty coin with the silver polish, find out more about it. Who knows, it could be one of the dollars George Washington supposedly threw across the Potomac presumably where the river is about five feet wide. Should the coin have his picture on it, thats generally no pun intended a tip off that he didnt throw that particular one. But it could still be valuable Before you do anything, assess its value. If you cant look up the coin yourself in the PCGS coin price guide, take it to a reputable coin dealer and ask him whether its worth anything. If it is, dont even think about cleaning it. Cleaning affects the value of collectible coins, and definitely doesnt increase them. The patina a coin builds up over the years is part of its total essence, its history, like the patina on old silverware. IMG_28314.jpg' alt='Whats Eating Clean' title='Whats Eating Clean' />Thanks for drawing attention to this Dr. Briffa I too had many of the same symptoms of the ladies in question, horrible cramping and bloating, burping after eating. Whats Eating Clean' title='Whats Eating Clean' />The National Wildlife Federations family of magazines include National Wildlife, Ranger Rick, Ranger Rick Jr., and Ranger Rick Cub. Free eating meat papers, essays, and research papers. This is a good reason to use caution when eating shellfish, but this doesnt necessarily mean avoiding shellfish during summer months, says Grattan. When youre constantly feeling drained, it might be time to look at whats bringing you down. Check out these energy zappers and see how many apply to you. Short, Clean Jokes And Puns That Will Get You A Laugh Every Time is cataloged in Humor. Why You Shouldnt Clean Your Coins. Before you do anything, assess its value. If you cant look up the coin yourself in the PCGS coin price guide, take it to a. Remove it, and you can reduce its value by as much as 9. Collectors value coins with attractive patinas, which actually protect the coins surface. The way collectors establish the value of a coin is by grading it, an art rather than a science. Grades run from the top grade, a score of 7. Mint, un circulated, which means there is no sign of wear on the coin. The bottom classification is Basal, which means A lump of metal barely identifiable as a coin. No amount of cleaning or polishing is going to raise a coin from one grade to another. In fact, the two major companies that grade coins, PCGS Professional Coin Grading Service and NGC Numismatic Guarantee Corporation, refuse to grade coins that have been washed andor polished. Its the amount of wear and tear on a coin that counts towards its value, not how pretty it is. Should you be a collector or intend to become one with this very coin, you definitely dont want to clean or polish it unless you have just discovered it with a metal detector and dug it out of the ground. Once any metal has been exposed to the air, its going to oxidize, or tone. If you strip the coin of this toning, not only will you lose any remaining mint luster, the coin will appear harsh and unappealing, and it will suffer microscopic abrasions that lower its grade. For coins that are not particularly valuable, there are only a couple of reasons for washing them. One is when they are going to be incorporated into jewelry and therefore should look nice. The other is to render them less communicable as reservoirs of disease germs. Otherwise, why bother If youre going to do it, you might as well do it right Handle the coin by the edges to leave no fingerprints. Not because you stole it, but because fingerprints transfer caustic oils from your fingers to the coin. Avoid abrasives. Commercial coin polish, however, can be used if the coin is not valuable. Toothpaste may also work. Recipe For Hollandaise Sauce on this page. Run warm water over the coin for about a minute, preferably using water under some pressure. Soak the coin from a few hours to a week or two until any deposits disappear. Soak gold coins in hot soapy water. Bronze, silver, copper, or nickel coins go in distilled water or olive oil but, for some reason, not virgin olive oil to keep from tainting the coins further. Tough stains can be removed with white vinegar. Or try soaking silver coins in lemon juice for a few minutes. Others suggest putting the coin in a cup of cola drink, though this is going to leave a sticky residue. Always follow any one of these baths by washing the coin in denatured alcohol. When soaking, dont mix different metals together. Rinse the coin under very warm water. Lightly brush any remaining dirt off the coin with a soft toothbrush and dish soap. Apply little pressure. Pat the coin dry with a soft, lint free cloth, then lay the coin on a soft, dry cloth to finish drying. Do not rub the coin dry. Spot clean encrusted dirt with a toothpick without scratching the surface of the coin. Hot sauce can be used to burn some dirt off coins cola drinks can make them shiny. Gives you pause about eating a lot of hot sauce or drinking a lot of Coke, doesnt itThere is at least one special case where valuable coins should be cleaned those that have been fished out of the ocean in other words, salvage booty. The standard method for removing coral calcification and mineralization from such coins is to clean them in an electrolysis bath. Its not simple Buy or build an electrolysis bath. Mix calcium carbonate obtained at pool supply stores one part to 4. Avoid running with a high electric current, which will peel away metal from the coin. Fix the distance between the anode and cathode poles to avoid having the current take metal off the coin. Never leave the coin unattended. When done, rinse the coin in clean distilled water. After rinsing, and using distilled water not the stuff youve already used, repeat the electrolysis process without the calcium carbonate to remove all traces of the electrolyte from the coin. Whats causing this ladys stomach to bloat after eating Dr Briffas Blog. I came across this story today. It concerns a young lady who, it is claimed, can bloat up like a balloon shortly after she eats. Normal testing has not identified any particular problem. I was interested in this story because it reminded me of a similar story given to me some years ago when I was lecturing in Toronto. One dinner, I sat next to the very nice Canadian administrator of the event on which I was teaching. I noticed she lets call her Louise was eating only tiny portion of food. Often, individuals assume that someone eating micro portions of food has something to do with weight control. But Ive learned in practice to avoid making assumptions, and gently asked Louise why she was not eating much. Louise told that the reason she ate small volumes of food because she would get bloated and uncomfortable after meals, and the more she ate, the worse it was. She had had all the tests, but none of these had helped her any. One of the investigations involved her eating a radioactive sandwich, which I assume was a test for the way food passed out of the stomach and through the small intestine. Louise said that she did feel it was a bit odd to be told that she had to wear protective gloves while she ate the sandwich, and that the room she ate it in was evacuated for the safety of others at the time In my experience, bloating after meals can be caused by a range of factors, but one of the most common is low or non existent levels of acid in the stomach termed hypochlorhydria and achlorhydria respectively. Stomach acid is a key component in the proper digestion of food. A lack of it can cause digestive strife not just bloating, but symptoms such as indigestion, burping and reflux too. If food does not digest efficiently, theres a tendency for it to sit around in the stomach, and some individuals feel as though food has got stuck a bit. Its not uncommon for individuals to have an evening meal and have the impression it remains undigested the following morning. Sometimes, these individuals will burp in the morning and taste the food they ate the night before. It turns out that Louise was one of these people. One potential treatment for low stomach acid is for individuals to supplement with hydrochloric acid the type of acid in the stomach in capsule form before meals. As an aside, hydrochloric acid was a recognised conventional medical treatment for indigestion decades ago sipped through a glass straw to protect tooth enamel. Then acid suppressing medication came along and the concept of excess acid which basically put a stop to doctors thinking that individuals might have inadequate stomach acid if they presented with indigestion type symptoms dyspepsia. I often have a few supplements in my doctors bag when I travel, and had some stomach acid capsules with me on that particular trip. To make a long story a bit shorter, Louise took a couple of capsules of hydrochloric acid during the meal. The next day she volunteered that she had felt better, in terms of her abdominal and digestive symptoms, after the meal and again the following morning than she had for a long time. This experience does not prove Louises problems were down to low stomach acid, but I strongly suspect it had a lot to do with it. Interestingly, the radioactive sandwich test Louise had showed that food tended to stay in her stomach for extended periods of time. However, she could not recall anyone ever mentioning to her that low stomach acid might be the problem. As for the lady whose story triggered this, I obviously have no idea whether her symptoms are caused by low stomach acid. Again, I wouldnt be surprised if this is playing a part. I note that the piece includes a long list of potential causes of abdominal bloating, though low stomach acid is, again, not mentioned. For more on low stomach acid secretion and some thoughts on its management, see here.