My First Attempt At 'Dipping' A Coin.....kennedy SMS

I am not planning on selling at all. I want to see the beauty of the coin and if it has gunk on it and I can remove it without damage then great. I knew acetone did not hurt a coin and from my brief experiment here, as long as I am careful this does not either.





That is what the acetone does...there is no cleaning agent left....at least that is my understanding.





Precisely I am not selling these and looking at them I do not think it hurt in any way. As someone has stated there is a restoration/preservation company out there that does this. If they charge $15 per coin, the coins I have done are not worth that. The point is, after the gunk is off, they look great and that was the purpose.

I can not remember the last time I sold a coin...must have been 15 years old or something.





How can it destroy the coin? If you have some kind of smear, fingerprint, dirt or whatever on it and you want it gone without damage and that is the key, what can you do. I do not think I have damaged the coin in any way...these were not circulated coins, they were mint state with gunk on them. Now they just look mint state. I understand the reservations of some and I have no issue with it. For me, I like to look at them and I want them to be nice. This is a way to do just that. If it ruins the resale value of a $10 coin, so what I am not selling them.




Well I was worried about that but the acetone should have cleaned any residue off of it. I dipped way longer in the acetone as it hurts nothing..I think.






Yuk, but you said you rinsed with distilled water. I wonder if acetone was used if you would have had the same reaction?

Foxwoods I did incorrectly mis read your post..curious from dip til now how was the coin stored? Did any others tone? That were stored like the Morgan?

I am stumped..we need a metallurgist!

I set some aside as well..still no change..

My understanding is that one should only dip a BU coin, those nickels were circulated. Let me explain, the BU type coin will not show the bright cleaning like a circulated one will. There are folks that say a bu coin that has been dipped will have a microscopic layer removed from the coin and this I do believe. Some like toning and some do not. I have dipped a EF/AU coin that looked like crap, and yes it ruined the value I guess but made it nice to look at the design and level of wear. I am not still sold on this dipping but the results I have seen I am pleased with. I am not worried to much about value per se, but since it was standard practice for years to 'clean' a coin, then most likely most older coins have been cleaned at one time. One thing to keep in mind is that coins can be professionally cleaned in a process that is called conservation. I wonder how they do it really but I think I have a good idea, just not the recipes used.

I wonder what it would look like had you rinsed it in acetone instead of the distiller water ? Interesting.

SInce my OLD COin Care had expired I took to the lab and developed a new coin cleaner which can effectively remove all verdigris on copper and not affect patina or cartwheel effect. It took a year but I am now satified with my results. Many rave reviews and I have been selling it only to C4 members (Colonial Coin Collectors Club) so far ... its $40 for a 2 oz. bottle. Chorinated hydrocarbons like Blue Ribbon turn a copper coin slightly purple and aceone or ketones give coins a whitish cast look as it dries out the surface. Was an industrial cleaning chemist for (15) years ... if you have questions I can answer them here ... contact me privately if you wish to purchase this item. Safe on copper alloy and hence safe on all alloys. Has no effect on carbon spots or deep cratered verdigris. Surficial PVC type green - 15 second wipe - no issues.

John Lorenzo
United States
ANS,ANA,C4,EAC,NBS,MNA Member

No name. I took a current brand and then reformulated and added a premium mix to this already formulation. The main laboratory requirement was no copper patina change, no cartwheel effects and no residue after a 1 hour drying time on the surface viewed through a 15X jewlers loop.
As with any coin cleaner it has no effect on carbon spots which are inert and depending on the depth into the coin of green patina it may need a sitting time of 15-30 minutes. Most cleaning operations with a QTip is 15 sec then wipe.
No ill reviews yet with over two dozed C4 members ging both thums up on the product.
I know ... yeah sure ... this is understandable <BG>.
I would not recommend it on MS coins because as you move the soils which are removed around there is always the liklihood of surface hairlines on the coin. But if the area of cleaning is just a green spot or two ... it may be worth the gamble>