I just opened a roll of 1983 cents with the intention of looking for errors. Horror! Every coin is spotted from the acid in the paper and every one has a nice die crack. I worked with acetone at the factory to clean printing heads with but never used it on coins, in this case copper plated zinc. Is this doable or is there something else more suitable or should I swallow my loss and return them to circulation? Thanks folks.
I know it works great on silver, but I don't know how it does on copper plated zinc. Maybe BadThad would know?
The zinc has absolutely no bearing on anything in this discussion. The coins are completely plated in pure copper - no zinc will interact with the acetone (not that it should matter). Acetone is perfectly safe for copper coins. It won't do anything for toning due to a chemical reaction with the paper (more likely due to the sulfur, not acid). Acetone is only for the removal of organic compounds. So, sure, try it and see for yourself, but if the coins have oxidized or toned, acetone won't help them.
If the coins have toned, and it sounds like they have, there is only one thing that will remove the toning - a coin dip. And I don't think you want to go that route with copper.
there is nothing you can do for the zincolns. Acetone will not help nor hurt in this situation. 83 is a terrible production year as far as quality for cents to start with.
Thanks for the advice and replies. I should have mentioned that these were heavily spotted and probably from the sulpher in the paper as sated above ( not the paper acid as I stated).
