1944 Lincoln Cent

I would leave the coin just as it is. I think any attempt to remove the fingerprint and spots might damage the coin. I'm going to say MS-64.

I could be wrong, but I thought Acetone was not recommended on Copper coins.
Works great on Silver Coins.

If you don't remove it immediately, you can run the risk of leaving a purplish hue on the penny.

If you want to risk using Acetone, I'd definitely try it out on junk coins first to see if the color changes etc.


Personally, I would leave your 1944 alone.

I would also grade it a MS64RD- Beautiful Penny!

Have to give it a 64 with the spots. Carbon spots like that are irremovable without damaging the coin, end of story. No solvent will touch them.

If you're real determined and don't care about the coin so much there's one method I've considered trying. That is to heat a paper clip to red hot and then touch it to the spots. No idea if this will work or exactly how it will affect the coin, but it will most certainly leave a new spot (it just won't be carbon). The other method is to put it on a stove burner and heat the coin until the carbon combusts....but that WILL alter the look of the coin, heat treating a BU coin leaves obvious traces of doctoring....experiment with junk before trying.

The paperclip idea seems interesting. As mentioned, wouldnt do it to anything but junk.