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Guide to MINTY tokens!!!

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Yoeddy1:
Hi everyone,

So for those that are into the coin handling aspect of gaming, there is nothing worse than playing with filthy, tarnished tokens and/or coins.  A month or so ago, I picked up around 300 or so of the famous Fannini dollar tokens at a fantastic deal from Ben himself.  A good portion of them were in fantastic condition, and the rest were extremely tarnished and worn.  This was agreed upon as part of the deal as I was more interested in the clanking sound in the coin tray.  Needless to say, that lasted about 2 weeks, and I decided to pursue some restoration options to bring the tokens back to life.

The first test was soaking them in hot water and dish soap.  Stirred them around in the mixture, but it didn't do anything.

The second test was using Simple Green and a toothbrush.  Didn't do anything.

The third test vinegar and baking soda.  No change.

The fourth test was trying some silver polish.  This actually made a dent, but I didn't want to polish 300 tokens by hand.  And it didn't really add the "shimmer" I was looking for.  Not worth the effort.

FINALLY, I hit the jackpot!   Went down to Harbor Freight and picked me up a  5lb vibratory tumbler and some rust cutting abrasive resin media...plastic chunks.  Got it home and plunked in around 60 tokens and 3/4 media.  Let it work for a about 4 hours.  Pulled the tokens out and the majority of the tarnish was gone, but the tokens were left with a dull finish after rinsing them all off.  I used a soft brush, Simple Green, and hot water to get the media off of the tokens.  I then laid them on paper towel to let them dry.

Next I went to Cabellas and picked up a jug of walnut shell media.  Supposedly, this is what polishes the heck out of brass and other metals.  I filled the tumbler with 2/3 of this media, and 60-70 tokens per batch.  Let each batch run for about 1.5 hours.  Folks, this stuff brought the shine back and these tokens look like they are fresh from the mint.  Shimmering and beautiful again like new!

If you want your tokens and coins to look minty fresh and feel smooth to the touch, I strongly suggest giving this a try.  The tumbler can be had for 50 bucks or less and the media is about 15 per container, and is reusable.  This process is well worth the money in my opinion.

Anyway, some of the tokens were so shot and tarnished, you couldn't even read them.  Fingers were left blackened.  After running this process, I can say that Ben's tokens are of the highest quality.  They're beautiful. Nothing even comes close.

Below are some before and after photos, and a picture of the tumbler and media.

Thanks,
Jason

777sizzler:
Jason, This is a good post- :cool_thumb_up: , I will say you are so OCD and Annul it is just crazy.  Yes -also I have a lot of Ben's tokens that I got years ago and are still Mint- they even match my intials and my 777 sig. ---None of mine need re-furib.  But I got them 10 years ago and barely used.  Again for the annul-Great post. --Almost as good as 3-titties-Though what would we do with them!.

Tilt:
You can get the walnut shell media much cheaper at a pet store.  People use it for animal cages.  I guess that makes it cheaper than the same stuff that's used in ammo cartridge re-loading.  Works great for polishing pinball playfield parts too.

 

CommTech:
Great post!  Has anyone tried a sonic jewelry cleaner?

buybestslots:

--- Quote from: CommTech on June 29, 2015, 10:18:25 AM ---Great post!  Has anyone tried a sonic jewelry cleaner
if you have one that the way to go much cheaper
--- End quote ---

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