Quick Question Regarding Cleaning

Acetone is generally acceptable for silver coins as it will remove most carbon based deposits including grime and fingerprints. I've used it succesfully to remove things like glue/tape residue or wax. It works well because it does not remove the natural toning of the coin. Unfortunately, as far as the fingerprints go, you will probably not be able to fix them. Even if you remove the oils, there will still be a contrast between the area with the fingerprint and the rest of the coin.

Remember if you use Acetone, do not rub the coin in any way. Just a soak will do. I rinse with demineralized water afterward but some just use tap water and then pat dry with something soft.

There are several posts regarding the use of Acetone. I suggest you search them for more information.

Okay, other than acetone with silver coins, what about other coins? Coins that are not silver based?

acetone is fine with ANY coin... just use pure acetone.. give it a bath in some acetone and rinse it off with clean acetone..

I would advise against patting ANY coin dry.. you just increase the chance of putting something else onto the coin or impairing the surface.

Acetone can discolor and even dissolve plastic so be careful of what container you pour it into, what may get splashed on the desk, and it is quite destructive to TPG slabs.
Having said that, I buy acetone by the gallon. Wal*Mart and hardware chains have it cheapest in the paint departments.

/1/ Fingerprints... these are actually the chemicals (oils, acids, etc.) from your finger (normal body stuff) transferred to the metal. Over time, these will permanently alter the surface of the coin. Acetone will remove these and - if the surface has not started to change - remove them.

Once you start to see toning changes on the surface of the coin it's permanent. Acetone will remove the contaminant and prevent FUTURE change.

/2/ "Grime" covers a lot of types of contaminates. Some may permanently impact the coin, others may just be on the surface. Acetone is safe for removing many of these, BUT

If the coverage isn't uniform, it's possible the grime may have shielded part of the surface from other chemicals and when removed it will leave a blotchy, unnatural and unattractive appearance.

Think Suntoo (a temporary sun block design applied to the skin, which when removed leaves an untanned copy on the skin).


When working on coins, it is important to use low value (no numismatic value) coins as your test subjects first.

Say you have a jar of random wheat cents? Simple common sense says to start with the low value 40s and 50s (check for varieties like the 1955 double die first) before trying it on the 1909S VDB...

Also be aware that if you have a coin that has a lot of crud on it, once this crud is removed the area under it will be a different color that the rest of the coin.

if this coin has value, this could alter the eye appeal of the coin dramatically, and could reduce the value.