Cleaning pennies for treasure chest

[Blue]

I have a few hundred pennies that I want to bury in a treasure chest for kids. I would like to clean them up to more closely imitate gold but don't know how to do it.

[Luke]

Got a Taco Bell nearby? Grab some handfuls of packets of their hot sauce. Arby's sauce also works. Both are "free". Soak the pennies till shiny, then dry. If you're adverse to expropriation try Louisiana Hot Sauce or lemon juice, or any commercial metal polisher, or an eraser (mount it on a drill or dremel to reduce carpal tunnel injury).

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Soak them in vinegar. Lemon juice works but is more expensive.

[Rick]

A strong baking soda/water solution also works, and is less corrosive than vinegar or lemon juice.

[someone]

[PaPaPeng]

Tumbling them in fine sand or baking soda seems to be the best suggestions so far. I believe every country has a law that forbids altering/defacing coin and money. Therefore any attempt to "gold" the pennies must not be permanent. There might be a food grade gold powder you can use.

[Rick]

Huh? If such a law exists I'd appreciate a reference to it.

I've seen all kinds of examples of altered coinage.. watches made from half-dollars, etc.

[Randy Cox]

It takes more time than you are probably willing to invest, but if you chuck up a wooden pencil in a 3/8 drill with the eraser end forward, then erase all the tarnish. It would take several pencil to do a few hundred and some time, but the eraser will brighten the penny.

Randy R. Cox

[JRanieri]

Pick up a few hundred US Eagles for the kiddies, ya cheap bastid.

[PaPaPeng]

If you find one of those metal presses at an amusement arcade that is used to squeeze pennies into thin long strips there will be a metal plate that quotes this law. That is why they do not run sovereign coins through that machine but will be quite willing to do so on a coin from another country. The law is there although it is rarely if ever enforced when coins are used for jewellery. In jewellery, if you look closely at an American Gold Eagle for example, it will be an imitation with obvious flaws such as poor image definition. To make an indistinguishable copy is counterfieting. Real Gold Eagles are worth far more in original condition anyway.

[Greg G]

My ten year old daughter chose this as her science experiment last year. The lemon juice did a better job. Adding salt improves it also. As an added little science tidbit, save the juice you used after you clean the pennies. Put some nails or other iron items in the "dirty" juice. It will actually slightly copper plate the nails.

Greg Guarino

[Hopkins]

heh I was going to recommend Chi-Chi's hot sauce.

[Tomes]

LOL, I'm thinking they will still be worth a penny each.

[Dave Balderstone]

Put them in vinegar and sprinkle salt of them.

djb

[Ross Mac]

Forget the pennies and pick up some fake gold coins from a party supply store...You might even find a treasure chest there too...

[Ross Mac]

I guarantee that sulfuric acid will work. That's what they use in the electronics biz.....

[Jim Yanik]

"Ross Mac" wrote in news:ItednXkkR4- [e-mail]:

try Tarn-X,available in most drugstores and supermarkets.It works fast.

[Jim Yanik]

zxcvbob wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Buying a bottle of Tarn-X is a lot cheaper;a couple of dollars,-especially if you don't have a tumbler and polishing medium(like most people). Also faster;Tarn-X will remove the tarnish in less than 15 minutes.

[zxcvbob]

Of course most people don't have a tumbler, but I still think it'd worthwhile to ask around if he knows any reloaders. I know I'd tumble-polish a few hundred coins for someone for a project like this if they asked me. It wouldn't cost anything.

Best regards, Bob

[Phisherman]

Wet them with vinagar then sprinkle on some table salt.