What Is On My Coin? (Help A New Guy Out!)

I'm surprised no one has suggested the good ol' acetone treatment. Acetone will dissolve miscellaneous crud like ink, oil, and many paints and stains but will not affect the gold.

If it were my coin, I would try something like the following. Make sure you do this outdoors since acetone is very flammable.

1) Carefully open the case, remove the coin (handling it by the edge only), and place it at an angle on a soft paper towel.
2) Using a glass or polypropylene eyedropper, flush the spot with a few squirts of pure acetone. Make sure it is good quality acetone from a lab supply or hardware store. Don't use nail polish remover!
3) If the spot doesn't easily rinse off, place the coin in a shallow glass or ceramic bowl and cover with acetone. Let it soak for a few minutes.
4) Return the coin to the paper towel and try some more squirts of fresh acetone. You can repeat #3 and #4 several times if you think you are seeing an improvement.
5) When done, allow the coin to completely air-dry before putting it back in the case. Those cases are polycarbonate plastic and acetone will destroy them, so make sure all the acetone is gone!

If this doesn't work, I'd take Metalman's choice #1 (live with it) or #3 (sell it and buy one you like better). If you try it, please let us know what happens.

By the way, welcome to the forum!

You've raised more questions.

I had bought the coin to hold onto for the long-term either to sell in retirement or to pass on to one of my kids.

Does the discoloration make it more rare or anything?
Is it possible that this coin is a first strike? They seem to sell for much higher.
Wouldn't the NCS try the acetone option?

The spot does bother me if I decide to pass it on. I liked the idea of it being a perfect first of its kind. If it's likely not a first strike I'm kinda leaning towards trying to clean it myself, because the whole NCS thing wouldn't be worth it and there's no guarantee that a second one I bought to replace this one would be perfect either.

My suggestion is to let sleeping dogs lie. In other words as already noted leave it alone. Sounds like it really bothers you but if you just stop any further metalic reactions, it should stay as it for a long, long time. It is in the original Mint container so leave that alone. Many collectors pay extra for coins in the original containers. Note how even Hot Wheel cars sell for double if in the original package. Breaking it open to put in Acetone is risky if you don't know exactly what your doing.
For example how would you immerse the coin in the Acetone? Use your fingers? The type of container used for the dipping? The purity of the Acetone? Distilled water or tap water rinse or no rinse at all? Acetone is OK for someone that knows what they are doing but many things can go wrong if your don't. Again, just put the coin in a zip lock bag, push out excess air, tape up the ends and forget it.
Your great-great grandkids will see it as it is today.

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Does the discoloration make it more rare or anything?

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Not that I know of ,,unless the whole coin was to tone then it may make it appealing to a whole different crowd of collectors ,,but that little spot is a distraction on the coin.

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Is it possible that this coin is a first strike? They seem to sell for much higher.

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I give little credence to the first strike designation on just about any coin ,, and before I get jumped on for that statement ,,I have heard all the hype and I have also read what the mint had to say about the FS ASE's they completely discounted them by stating that there is no way to know which coins are the first struck from any pair of dies and the date on the box means nothing .

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Wouldn't the NCS try the acetone option?

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As far as I know NCS has methods which they do not disclose ,,acetone maybe in the system or another such solvent ,,but just exactly what they use I have no clue .

there are also things which they can do little about ,,it depends a great deal on if the problem is within the planchet or if it is on the surface .


Personally if it was me and that spot bothered me I would sell the coin replace it with another ,,and get rid of the mint packaging and store the coin in an airtite .

I have little respect for mint packaging for long term storage ,,I have seen way to many nice coins end up in the obituaries because of it .

I agree, too. Mainly because (as mentioned earlier) it is extremely easy to mar, cut, rub, ding, gouge, or otherwise damage pure gold.

By the way, the NGC membership fee of $99 surprises me, since you can join the ANA for $36, and it includes a free NGC membership, and you get a pretty good magazine, too.

Again, thanks for all the replies. I'm learning alot. More questions though. When transferring a coin to an airtight holder, do you need to wear gloves or anything? Would local dealers be able to take a look at it and better say what the spot is?

The edges of the gold planchets have an oil applied to them so they do not bind up in the handling equipment. This oil happens to have a red color. When the gold buffalos first came out there were a lot of reports of "red stuff" on the proof coins.