Cleaning Ancient Coins

Hello. My name is Steve, and I admit it. I'm a coin-cleaning junkie.

(Polite applause and calls of "Hello, Steve....Tell it like it is"

Oh.....it started innocently enough. "I'll just give it a try. After all, plenty of other people clean coins. I can control myself."

I bought a few small lots, soaked them in distilled water and olive oil, brushed them, soaked them some more, back and forth, back and forth, until I could identify them.

Cool! I had a bunch of coins I could identify, and a bunch that were good for nothing but using for fishing weights or my kid's slingshot, so I bought some more. I cleaned them up, and then bought some more......

I didn't know it then, but with the clarity of hindsight, I can now see that it was the start of a wild ride that I would be powerless to stop.

Even though I told myself that I could stop anytime I wanted, I found my craving for dirty coins getting worse and worse. Where I once enjoyed cleaning coins with my kids, I soon found myself cleaning by myself, late into the night. I would spend hours surfing the Internet, looking for new sources to buy from.

"GOLD FOUND" screamed the headers! "Uncleaned Blow-out!" "Best on the Net!" "Get them before they are gone!" "Buried by Roman Soldiers!"

I began missing social functions to stay home and clean my coins. I neglected family and friends. I began sneaking money from our checking account and buying more uncleaned coins. I began hiding lots around the house. I bought a stereo microscope. I stole every needle from my wife's sewing box. I had started small, with just a lot here and there, but now I found that I couldn't sleep without cleaning at least 15 or 20 coins.

I had lost control.