Acetone bath

Update on my Swiss 10 Fr bulls commem that came back in a body bag - acetone does not SEEM to touch whatever the residue is. It has an oiliness to it. I'm now trying a little Dawn and water in a dish, before I head down to my neighborhood True Value store (Hey, there's Pat Summerall again!) for a can of xylene.

 

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In all fairness, they often say improperly cleaned.

 

...or a two-digit code starting with a "9".

 

Sometimes it takes more than one Qtip. Sometimes it will take several. Dip the q-tip in the acetone first so it is wet and soft, and then apply it to the surface. Repeat until the qtip shows no discoloration.

And, if there is stuff in the cracks and crevices of the design, you may have to push a little. Don't worry, as long as you are using a cotton qtip with a paper core, you won't damage the coin.

Acetone will not affect silver, gold, or nickel at all.

There is some debate on other metals which I am currently investigating.

And, I agree that the idea of a rose thorn makes me cringe a bit - but ancients collectors have been doing that for centuries. I have not personally tried it to see its affects on a coins surfaces for myself, so I will not recommend it.

 

How do you "mount it"? Seems awfully tiny.

 

I agree, and that comes from a committed agitator, too.

 

No, you won't.

I've done it on MS coins.

I've done it on Proof coins.

I never saw hairlines.

I even took one extremely common low-value proof coin and really, really pushed hard to see what happened. I had to *really* try to make hairlines, and I finally did.

I grant that if you are actually pushing dirt around the coin, you will leave scratches - but that's not what acetone and qtips are supposed to be used for.

I do encourage people to experiment on low value coins first to see just what effect it has for themselves.

If you use the qtips gently, make sure they are cotton tipped with paper cores, and make sure they are wetted with acetone.... you won't leave hairlines.

 

I did not realize that was the first rule. It's (usually) a pretty good rule though, unless you know what you're doing.

 

@GDJMSP would running the coin under warm or hot tap water to try to dislodge gunk before a final distilled water rinse potentially dangerous? I don’t want to wipe any coin, but need some stuff to dislodge. I do agitate the container from time to time, but worry about scratching coins on the porcelain base they rest on.

 

I'm not Doug, but I'll answer anyways....

Running under water will really only help if the gunk is very loosely adhered. You could apply high pressure to it, but then you run the risk of more damage than the qtip.

Your best bet is going to be soaking, and then using a qtip carefully. The soak should loosen anything, and then a careful qtip application should remove the gunk.

I'd hesitate to recommend agitation, especially vigorous agitation, for the very reason you mentioned: they are sliding around on the surface of the container, they are bumping into each other, and the particles that have been removed are also floating around in there. Shaking a container is far more likely to damage the coin than the careful use of a qtip!

 

Brandon, I routinely use rose thorns to dislodge stubborn gunk after an acetone bath. The acetone swells the gunk to some degree, and weakens it.
I have never harmed a coin using rose thorns, not even sensitive large cents with which you have to be specially careful due to the softness of the metal.
My wife has some large rose bushes, and I pick only medium sized thorns (avoid the older larger ones as they are probably harder) just to be sure.
Never a problem if you go about it with care.
If acetone will not work to eliminate accumulated dirt and soft deposits, I use xylene.

Edited to add: if you don't have access to rose thorns, I will raid my wife's rose bushes and collect some for you if you do come down to the Rhein Main area.

 

Good point. I doubt I would attempt to mess with any higher dollar coins in that way. This is why I avoid problem coins that could eventually need conservation like the plague.

But I know you recommend this exercise in your book, and I'm tempted to buy a roll of junk Silver Dimes and put them through the ringer just to see and learn all the intricacies of cleaned Silver.

 

Thank you! We have a rose bush out front. Where do you find Xylene in Germany? I tried the local hardware store and amazon with no luck.

 

Some slabs do say improperly cleaned, others just say cleaned. My point was the humor I saw in TPGs putting "cleaned" on their slabs when coins cleaned with fluids, and rubbed with q-tips, wood slivers, toothpicks and other devices, as described in this thread, came back straight-graded. My comment was more in jest, hence the wink.

 

Apparently amazon.de has it:
https://www.amazon.de/Xylol-Isomerengemisch-min-Gebindegröße-Liter/dp/B00LBXF84S

I got mine from an industrial supplier (Sigma Aldrich - Merck). I think they only sell larger quantities > 1L.

 

Reality...a coin is uncirculated if it shows no signs of circulation...a coin has not been "cleaned" if it shows no evidence of cleaning. Now for the quibbles, although the signs of circulation are fairly evident, the signs of "cleaning" are not and MUCH discussion has gone on here on how to detect "cleaning".

 

News update - 2012 Swiss 10 franc commem bulls. A little Dawn dish detergent in warm water, and whatever Andromeda Strain that was on the horns of my bulls' dilemma has been vanquished to that scuzz depository in the sky. Or maybe the drain, same diff. Now, distilled. Water, not whiskey. Althoughhhhhh. Then a fresh acetone rinse and into a flipper doodle to wait for NYINC.