So last week, I walked to the 7-Eleven to grab some watermelon and a Clif Mojo bar, and as I was checking out saw a wheat penny on top of the other coins in the "Take A Penny" tray. I traded it out for one of my own and stuck it in my pocket. I walked back to work and checked out the year on the penny - 1941. I then used it to void some scratch-off cards (scratch more than one of the three and it is invalid), and the edge of the coin became ultra shiny! Throughout the day, I rubbed the coin between my fingers, mostly out of habit. The tarnish came off easily and I was left with an incredibly new-looking penny with a lovely copper finish.
I showed my dad, who is almost as nerdy as me, the other night, as we had dinner together and talked for a long time, and when we returned to his place, he showed me a tin of metal polish he'd had for years called Nevr-Dull. It was basically cotton wadding soaked in turpentine or some similar solvent, but it did the job easily! I decided to polish the smoothest penny I'd ever come across that is from 1920. It took two-thirds of a Lord of The Rings movie, but it's finally a lovely rosy luster.
Told you I was a nerd. :)
2008 vs. 1920.
