1971 1c DDO Did I Actually Find One

to the CCF and very nice find A real nice find for being your first.

Congratulations on your excellent find!

Acetone is one of the few chemicals that is completely safe and acceptable to use on coins because it is totally non-reactive. (The others are water and xylene).

As a solvent it will dissolve and remove organic material (and most non-organic material) that has been deposited on the coin's surface over time. That acts to stop the corrosion process, which is what turns a beautiful lustrous copper cents into dull brown cents. It won't make your coin shiny and new (nothing can do that) but it will conserve and help to preserve your find.

There's also a product called Verdi-Care that's available that when applied will arrest some of the virulent forms corrosion (such as that dark spot at the bottom of the bust). Again, it won't "clean" your coin and make it look new, but it can prevent problems from getting worse.

As to time, in pure acetone 2 - 8 hours depending on the amount of material to be dissolved and then a soft cotton q-tip to remove any residue.

Here is a Side by Sides with a normal die and the DDO:

The black spots on both the obv. and rev. are carbon, they will just keep getting bigger. I don't recommend grading. I think you would get a details grade from the carbon spots. A detail grade is the death on a coin.

Congrats on a great variety for your first DDO.

Both are safe to handle in small quantities, especially in the quantities we're talking about here, although Xylene does have a slightly more toxic long term exposure profile.

Acetone is less expensive and easier to find and my wife says it smells far less bad than Xylene so I use it in small quantities in the house rather than Xylene.

Carbon spots can not be removed! They are below the surface of the coin. Thus they get worse with age. I'd leave it alone.