Question About Cleaning With Acetone

First consideration should always be whether or not a 'clean' is warranted / needed. What is it you are attempting to address/mitigate? Also, second, and this should be somewhat obvious but needs to be said, it will remove paint/enamel.

It would be best to post an image, then you can get a definitive answer.

I always recommend following Bad Thad's polarity ladder.

In very general terms, yes. You may sometimes see people post links to chemistry research papers that say acetone is corrosive to bright copper coins. But if you look at the experimental conditions, it needs weeks of exposure under strong UV light (much more intense than sunlight) for the copper to turn the acetone into acetic acid and attack the copper. So, limiting exposure to a few hours at most and keeping it out of direct sunlight will avoid any possible problems in that regard.

The vast majority of people who post things like "I soaked my coin in acetone and it RUINED my coin", what's actually happened is that their coin was already ruined, but had some kind of gunk or goo smeared on the coin's surface hiding this fact, which the acetone then removed.


Yes. Coins that are made of plastic. Coins that are supposed to have paint, varnish or some other kind of organic goo on them. Canadian and Australian colorized coins are a good example of such coins that SHOULD NOT be rinsed with acetone, as the ink may simply wash off.


Here we're going to have to say "it depends", because it depends on exactly what your "grime" is.

If it's actually corrosion, then acetone will do absolutely nothing.

If it's toning or patina, the acetone will likewise do nothing.

If it's physical literal dirt (as in, soil), acetone will wash it off, but so will water, and water is much cheaper and less damaging to the environment (and your health).

If it's stickytape residue, paint, varnish, glue or something similar that's stuck to your coin, then acetone will probably do a good job of removing it. However, if that goo has been on the coin for decades and you remove it, you might notice a "hole" in the coin's patina or coloration where the goo used to be. Because, as mentioned above, acetone won't do anything to toning.

If it's been sitting in a plastic coin album in a hot/humid environment for several decades and it's turned all sticky, acetone is perfect for removing that icky green "PVC goo" from coins. However, the goo is acidic, and may have etched or damaged the coin's surface underneath the goo.

Any other type of "grime", we'd really need to see at least a picture.