Acetone And Old Copper Coins

acetone will not hurt copper coins at all, you could leave a copper coin in acetone for months and it wouldn't hurt it

Here's some threads of interest from CC on using acetone on copper:

https://goccf.com/t/13498
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/...D=4804#36726
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/...&whichpage=2

Hi Markn. Tyrannical is a strong term! We reciprocate with forums that reciprocate with us. CT chose chose to not allow links to this forum a few years back. Here's a few examples of those who do...(in fact I do not know of any other forums we do not share links with!) http://www.aussiecoins.net/forum/lo...?FORUM_ID=19 http://forums.collectors.com/catego...cfm?catid=26


Bottom line, we are not tyrants and did not chose this arrangement. We allow links to forums that allow links to ours. We feel this is good for the hobby to have this information exchange. Perhaps those in power at CT could better explain why this is so! Peace, Mike

I've read stories over the years about using Acetone on Copper coins and some said one thing and others said just the opposite. So although I've used Acetone many, many times on all types of coins in the past I thought I'd do an experiment on that. I've heard of sunlight, no light, in glass, in open air, closed and on and on with statements without facts. so my experiment started with 72DLincoln Cent, 88D Jefferson nickel, 05 Liberty dime, 77 Roosevelt dime, 80 Washington quarter. All were emersed in a jar of Acetone on April 10, 2007 at 5PM. The jar was covered and placed on a inside window sill. On april 11th at 5PM I moved the glass outside on the same window sill facing South. On april 12th at 3PM I removed all coins from the Acetone, place all on a Red Wood Picnic table to dry, no rinsing at all. Examined all coins with magnifing glass and absolutly no change in any coins. Dipped all coins in Vinegar for one hour and the Lincoln Cent started to have green spots but all other coins, nothing. Must be something wrong with my Acetone. Wonder where I can find this magic Acetone that changes coins.

OK I understand there is some history behind not linking to another forum. Still it's a pity that their small-mindedness has to affect the free flow of information on this forum. Anyhoo, tt's your forum you can do what you like with it.

Thanks all. Seem this is a topic a lot of folks have different opinions about. The substance on my old cent is almost liquid and I think must have been deposited recently as it has not adhered or caused any damage. This is a somewhat valuable coin so I wanted to be careful. I think I will just blot it off with a q-tip first and if any is left maybe a very quick dip in pure acetone. I have had it in a hard plastic snap Whitman holder and I don't think that is where the oil came from.

If anyone tells you that acetone is bad on a coin...they're incorrect! Period. Acetone will remove plastecized elements, like PVC and similar contaminants. If something adverse is hiding under those contaminants, then....yeah...the coin might look even worse. You should use 100% acetone from a hardware store so that it's not contaminated with anything else. Lightly roll a cotton swap over affected areas for higher end coins or lightly use your finger tips to help with the removal on lower strata material (this could adversely affect the coin if you are too harsh). But the acetone alone will not harm your material. I've used acetone many times on all sorts of coins. The worse case scenario is the coin looked no better (other than the times where I was a bit over anxious with a cotton swab or toothpick and messed the surfaces up a tad).