Acetone Rinsed Coin To Slab

Honestly, the only way to tell the differing things which can cling to a coin is experience. I could describe stuff until I was blue in the face, and when I was done I'd have to start on the exceptions to those rules.

Acetone is an organic solvent. It will only remove organic things from a coin; it won't cut superglue for instance. Tape residue, lacquer (like they coated coins with in the 19th Century for preservation), old-style organic glues, and of course PVC plasticizer contamination are acetone's strengths. It is transparent to the coin and to subsequent evaluators.

The downside to acetone is the same downside to any method considered "conservation" instead of "cleaning." You have to carefully evaluate the coin first to see if you really want to remove the stuff. In many cases, what you remove only covers part of the coin. Those parts which are covered age at a different rate than the exposed surfaces, and when you remove the crud the coin becomes splotchy and obviously cleaned. Sometimes you just have to leave them dirty.

If you look around you can get 91% Isopropyl at the drugstore.



Either of those would also do just fine, the problem is getting them with a high enough purity and no other contaminating substances. I believe for ethanol there is a brand called Everclear that's something like 190 proof (about 95% pure ethanol.) Butit is illegal in some states. Medicinal or reagent grade ethanol would probably work too. But frankly the isopropyl or acetone are MUCH cheaper. (medical grade 95% ethanol is about $30 a gallon Reagent grade 98.8% is $14 a pint.



ut that video is OLD and was long before the sniffer.



Maybe, maybe not. Some things are just water soluble and acetone won't touch them. Other things it will clean right off. Something to consider though. If the contamination is heavy and you remove it you may find it was hiding corrosion, or it may have protected those areas from toning and the con now screams that it was cleaned. You are always taking a chance when you do a bathing/degreasing job. The end result might look worse.

Don't know about you but I'm not wasting Everclear on coins.

I cleaned one of my Peace dollars today in acetone and it revealed a big scratch. The coin that was the most tarnished and discolored did not really improve with the acetone. I could not believe how I missed those scratches when I bought the coin. It is like when I tore out the old rug in my house to reveal the wooden floors only to find the floors were discolored by animal urine. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Every time I buy a coin I learn a lesson.

Is there a specific book recommended by the group for beginning collectors that would include the topics we have discussed here. There is so much to learn about every coin. The devil is in the details.

Dave, wont acetone possibly mute or dull intense rainbow toning?

Actually there is a book. ." COIN CHEMISTRY" that will help you out on this subject.

I've just been picking through that book as of late.... my chemistry isn't the best... and the author really does get into it a bit I feel .. but it's super interesting... I actually like what it says about toning... however I also feel it's a bit of a sales pitch for a few products mentioned in the book ...