Which Cleans Brass Better?

I'm doing an experiment today (in between studying for my CPH exam) on what product cleans pennies better.  So I mentioned in my post yesterday that I'm trying to decide what to cover the top of our coffee table with.  River rocks and tiles were two top contenders but I've been inspired by something else since then.  Pennies!  What else is one to do with all the excess pennies lying around the house, the car, my purse?  I have to admit, I'm not the first to have this idea.  There is a great bar in Athens, GA that my husband and I loved to go to called  Copper Creek Brewing Company.  Their entire bar top is covered in pennies!  It looks lovely and way more classy than a table of bottle tops.  Not that bottle tops wouldn't be great for a bar top someday but just not for now. 

Back to my original idea... I need a way to clean all those pennies we already have because some of them look kind of dingy.  My first thought was brasso!  I had many years experience cleaning my mom's brass pot rack and kitchen collection so I thought it would be perfect.  The only problem is that it really stinks up the house.  So if you decide to use this do it outside!  Currently I have a cup of pennies soaking in the stuff.  

Then my husband says to me "Soak them in Coke!"  Apparently he's tried this, albeit with English pence, and it really does work.  So...

Now I've got that experiment running too.  Not as smelly as the brasso and hopefully the results will be better!  

I've calculated how many pennies I would need to cover the whole table top and its around $13 worth.  This isn't too bad considering that 15 lbs of river rocks was about $15 and I think I would have needed more!  

Just imagine how lovely its going to look with all these shiny pennies!  I'm excited!  What are your thoughts about my project?  Have you tried cleaning anything with coke before?