My first time conserving a coin.

I think this Buffalo nickel is in AU details, but it had a lot of PVC damage on it so I decided to see what acetone could do to it. It came out of a 3 for $1 bin so there's almost no risk involved.

Here's the coin before (pictures are kinda crap):


And here's the coin after:



The light hits it a weird way in the after photos, but thankfully I don't see signs of cleaning or anything else that would detract from its value.

I think the final result is about an AU-55, which bids at $11 compared to $2 in XF, which is what I'd sell the AU details coin for. I'm always up for turning a $2 coin into an $11 coin.

Now I just gotta sell it.

 

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You did a great job on your first effort!

 

Looks nice. I'd call it XF, but you're still ahead of where you were when you bought it.

 

It's taken a while for me to try it, mainly because I wanted to test if acetone was really harmless on coins; after testing it on a 1925-D in hopes of removing the corrosion, it didn't help but fortunately it did nothing bad to the coin. So far, all my results with it have been satisfactory.

Thank ya! I know I'll try this again if I come across bargain bin Buffaloes with the same damage.

 

The only thing I have ever heard or seen in person with using Acetone is on copper. Acetone won't harm clad, or silver coinage.
As you have already alluded to is the removal of PVC that has damaged the surfaces.