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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,255 |
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Valued Member
United States
439 Posts |
Maybe. I've got two silver eagles that have developed some nasty black toning around the edges. Ideally I'd like to get rid of this and keep them but I've never really fiddled around with this before and have no idea if it can even be done without ruining them. Mostly I've taken the "never, ever clean a coin" route and have pretty much skipped over those threads but I remember people saying you can dip a coin in acetone, distilled water or olive oil for various maladies and have good results. I've looked for those threads for the past hour and a half now with no luck at all no matter what I run a search on so I'm just gonna take the lazy way out and ask for input. So, anyone got any ideas on this or is this one of those cases where it's better to sell them?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1454 Posts |
I would try acetone first. This supposedly doesn't hurt noble metals at all from all those posts you mentioned it is what most people stated. I have been soaking some old world junkers in olive oil just to see what would happen. One batch is turning the olive oil blue? LOL. I think that is probably some of the copper coins. I guess I wasn't supposed to do that. But, like I said, they are junkers and I wanted to see what happened. I have had some in for 3 weeks now and some others in for 2 weeks. I am going to get some acetone to get the oil off. I think that is what I am supposed to do, it was either that or rinse in soap and water first then acetone them. I will see if I can find sap's post. That is where alot of the talk of trial and error was going on. I believe it had the word "tasmanian token" in it. I will see if I can find it. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1454 Posts |
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Forum Mom
 United States
5877 Posts |
Olive oil is great for ancients and copper, but I don't know that I would use it on silver. I would be concerned about possible residue that would cause strange toning later. Acetone would be my choice. Just let it soak for a while. I think that will take care of the problem. There are different views on whether to rinse a coin that has been soaked in acetone.
Some say acetone completely evaporates without leaving any residue at all. Some say that you should rinse with distilled water after soaking it. Whichever way you choose, all agree that you should not rub the coin at all.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1152 Posts |
Where exactly can I get some acetone and what other coin-cleaning products are out there?
Andrew
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Pillar of the Community
Czech Republic
803 Posts |
Acetone can be found in any hardware store. Just make sure it's 100% pure. I used acetone in fiber-optic cleaning due to the fact that it leaves no residue. It wouldn't harm the coin, or the toning.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
867 Posts |
You can also get 100% pure acetone at beauty supply stores, it's used to dissolve artificial fingernails. Now that you know that what are you going to do? I've used acetone on some crusty copper cents, and exactly nothing happened. Still spotty, still crusty, still only worth face value! No harm, no foul I guess...  Rachel  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1152 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1152 Posts |
oh! also, what could I use to get ink off of an old metal printing block? Nail polish remover?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by pattiewhack
Where exactly can I get some acetone and what other coin-cleaning products are out there?
Andrew
I got my 100% acetone at CVS so any drug store like that should have it as well |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2177 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by pattiewhack
oh! also, what could I use to get ink off of an old metal printing block? Nail polish remover?
What kind of printing block is this? Is it art work? Have you made any prints off it yet? I too have a few old steel blocks. I don't know how I should clean them but I've made prints off them. I cut wood and linolium to make artwork and print them on rice paper. So this is an interest of mine. So I am curious. [umm  |
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
Acetone will remove any grease and most inks
On a cold day acetone may leave a bluish shine on the coin therefore I do all my acetone washes in summer because I noticed even distilled water may leave traces under 10 X LED magnification
( There are umpteenth different grades in distilled water and only the triple distilled water laboratories buy works , the rest is intended for use in electric steam ironing machines and living room fountains etc )
In this case however acetone will probably not work because the discoloration is the start of oxydation
My friend uses e*Z*est ( jewelustre ) which is not available in europe
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Valued Member
 United States
439 Posts |
Thanks for the ideas.
A guy at work told me acetone wouldn't work on oxidation too, he also recommended a jewelry cleaner and he's the one who is into silver dollars so I'm hoping he knows what hes talking about. He said to just dip it really quickly and then wash it off with distilled water and it should look okay. He stressed that the dipping should be done extremely quickly or it would leave that nasty overdipped look you see on so many coins. He's gonna bring in some of whatever he uses and show me how to do this tomorrow.
If ya see me peddling a couple of overdipped eagles for bullion value in the trading section you'll know I messed up. heheheh
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
As with everyone else, try Acetone. However, the necessity of pure Acetone is over rated. You can use the stuff at places like Ace hardware, Walmart, Kmart, etc. in the paint department. Then, also as mentioned, rinse with distilled water. Then do not allow to air dry. Instead use a hair dryer set on high to blow the excess moisture off the coins. I've done some fairly extensive coin cleaning in the past and have tried just about everything available in the average kitchen and garage. I've gone as far as using battery acid from lead-acid batteries and that is absolutely not recommended. Common dish soap was treid numerous times and since there are so many varieties, the results also varied and usuallyu left Silver coins with a bluish tone. If disperate a weak solution of common baking soda with water is also pretty decent with Silver coins as to a lite cleaning. The most important thing to remember when doing any type of cleaning, regardless of what some may say, the largest amount of contamination on any coin is a chemical reaction with an outside sourced agent. This means that any blue, green, black, purple, etc discoloration to a coin indicates that part of the coins metal has combined with something else. The removal of such contaminates means the removal of some of the coins metal. This is why so many say DO NOT CLEAN COINS. |
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Valued Member
Canada
96 Posts |
I use Lemon juice on ancient silver coins...and it works great. I've used it mainly on silver coins that have developped black patina over time....and the juice takes that patina away. But I've never tried it on modern silver. I don't think it's much different .
Regards,
Patrick
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1152 Posts |
[/quote] What kind of printing block is this? Is it art work? Have you made any prints off it yet? I too have a few old steel blocks. I don't know how I should clean them but I've made prints off them. I cut wood and linolium to make artwork and print them on rice paper. So this is an interest of mine. So I am curious. [umm [/quote] Its an old early 1900's one, its got ink on it but I want it OFF. Andrew |
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,255 |
Posted 10/02/2006 4:35 pm
