First Time Cleaning a Coin Using Electrolysis

Well since it has been too cold to go detecting and snow is on the ground, I decided to clean up some of my finds from this year. I could have done this setup for MUCH cheaper but I was impatient and wanted to get everything today instead of wait for an online order to be shipped.

Here is everything I bought, I ended up not needing the electrical tape but have plenty of wire to spare for future cleanings. The whole apparatus was really easy to put together and only took a few minutes.

Here is what the setup looked like all put together. This needs to be done in a well ventilated area so I put it in the window seal. The positive end or anode is attached to a stainless steel spoon, the negative end or cathode is what the wheat penny is attached to. The car battery charger had a mode for 6V or 12v, the higher the voltage the better.

Here is a before picture of the 1919 wheat penny. The photo is a bit enhanced and it was even harder to see with the naked eye. I wasn't able to figure out the date until after cleaning for 10 minutes.

Here is the after shot. I was really happy with how it turned out! It took a bit of scrubbing after the whole process was done to clean off some remaining residue. I "scrubbed" it with a soft bristled tooth brush and a mixture of toothpaste and baking soda.

Anyway, I will for sure be trying this again in the future. Now that I have all the equipment purchased it is rather cheap going forward to keep doing this process over and over.