1914 D Barber Dime Verdigris problem.

I picked up this coin sometime back and one of the other CTer's pointed out that it looked like verdigris. So upon closer inspection, I concluded it was so. I think the coin would grade if it didn't have this speck on it. The question now I suppose is, is it too big? Here are some shots I took of it awhile back. Maybe later if needed I can get some better shots.

Here is the coin in question. I went back to the original post and it's said that it's PVC. Now I know why I thought acetone bath. Tell me what you think.

 

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pure acetone on q-tip. wait for more opinions...

 

One lonely spot of green on an otherwise completely white silver coin screams PVC to me. I'd give it a good soak in acetone. It probably won't take long to get rid of this.

 

This. One single isolated spot of PVC isn't out of the ordinary. Won't hurt anything to soak the whole coin, indeed it's probably the better idea. Start with acetone and if that doesn't work then we can conclude it's actually verdigris.

What chance that you can work with magnification and a rose thorn? It requires a very steady hand, as the thorn cannot touch anything which isn't green.

 

I've got some rose bushes out my front door actually. They haven't bloomed yet. I don't think my hand would be steady enough. I'll do the acetone soak. But first should I try the q-tip idea or would the cotton scratch the coin? When I get ready, maybe I'll do a video and post it for educational purposes. Should I rinse in distilled water? I've heard yes and no... I'd like to get her ready to grade as I almost have another five coins ready to be sent in. You see all these things to consider and do. One of the reasons I've left the coin alone. LOL

 

If acetone does not work, look into VerdiCare.

Very nice Barber dime, although she has been dipped. No affect on value or grade as all of the luster seems to be there.

 

TypeCoin - Please share with me how you were able to conclusively say that this dime was dipped. Thanks, Jack

 

It's a 100+ year old coin. Completely original 100 year old silver coins don't look like they were minted yesterday.

It's still a nice looking coin.

 

This, in a nutshell.

 

Soak the whole coin for awhile and then be sure to rinse the coin off, change the acetone and let it soak some more. Sometimes it will appear the spot is gone but they may reappear if you don't soak it good enough or change the acetone after awhile for another fresh soak.

 

Care, acetone, MS-70, hot soap & water, dip, neutralize, hot air dry, acetone, dry, done. 3 minutes or less.

or you can soak it in acetone....

Don't rub the coin w/anything. Roll the first three chemicals on to the coin with a Q-tip.

 

The simplest solution first is usually the best. Just soak it in acetone for a day, then change the acetone and soak again for another day. I usually rinse the acetone off using distilled water.

 

Can't get any simpler. Care should remove all of it. If not, acetone should remove the Care and all of it. If not the MS-70 will remove everything. Swish the coin in hot soap & water to remove the MS-70 and coin should be done! Now we are down to 2 minutes or less. If spots still visible, continue the process above. IMO, no need to even dip the coin!

 

Acetone does not need to be "rinsed." It's so volatile that it evaporates without a trace left, so as long as the last thing which touches the coin is pure acetone - and there's nothing left on the coin to be removed - you're good.

If you plan to "work" the coin with a q-tip, do so with the coin in acetone. Underwater, so to speak. This will carry away any particulate matter instantly, rather than have it stick to a semi-moist q-tip (acetone evaporates too quickly for a q-tip to stay wet for long) or be moved around the surface. A wet q-tip probably won't scratch a wet coin, but what you just removed with it will.

 

I would avoid the q-tip business entirely and just do one soak in acetone for up to 24 hours. Then, a quick rinse in acetone and let the remaining acetone evaporate. In total, this should take about 2 minutes of actual effort, and a few hours of waiting.

Those spots that are not green will either come off with this procedure or not. If they do, then great. If they don't, they might be milk spots, which you can't really do much about.

 

Good in theory NOT in practice. In some cases acetone can leave a film after evaporating. Doing the "work" submerged in acetone sounds great too. Probably an excellent suggestion but very awkward, cannot see the "work", and unnecessary.

This is not rocket science. The spots on the OP's coin are "child's play." IMO, 95% of the coin dealers in the country would just dip it and be done with it in 20 seconds!

Let's see how many pages of opinion we can generate based on conjecture and methodology using this coin.

 

The spots are not milk spots. Whoops...IMO, the spots are not milk spots.

I've provided the SIMPLE chain of conservation which IS OVERKILL as most would just dip the thing. IMO, care, perhaps even VerdiCare will remove everything on the coin w/one application. That was step one and done!

 

FYI, this is how we cleaned world-class, precision optics when I worked for a company that built such things. Of course, we also did this inside a class 1000 or class 10000 clean room, but that's a different story.

 

It's great to know that. Perhaps a member has some GLASS COINS with spots he wishes to clean!

Most coin dealers/doctors I know work in dirty bathroom labs and use Q-tips!