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.
Looks like most of the green gunk came off, cool. I was always too scared to try this myself, but certainly a ~33 cent cost basis for an experiment is hardly any risk.
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.
That and are you going to disclose that it was conserved All kidding aside, Good Luck with the sale...the coin looks much better.
Do you, by chance, know the results of the acetone used on copper? I've seen it used on anything but copper coins. Its performance shocked me, honestly. I know if I come across any more coins with the PVC on it, I'll give acetone a try. At a coin show, if someone wants the nickel, I might show them the conservation to hopefully teach them about it if they don't know what to do. I'm riding the train of hoping it can sell, seems like Buffalo nickels are a hit or miss but when they hit, they hit good.
When used on a very deep and lustrous coin, it will take the original skin from the coin. This often just dulls the appearance, and takes time to build again, let's say it's immune system needs time to build in an album or flip. Your first and sometimes only step to conserve a copper/brass coin, is a distilled water soak and maybe a light qtip roll. Any further is actually altering the surfaces.
You did really well! I think there is a little more in the hair crevices. One more light application should get it. I've never had trouble using 100% acetone on circulated copper. 100 pure acetone with a fluffed up cue tip, lightly roll it to absorb pvc, then distilled water rinse and lay it on a microfiber cloth to remove excess moisture. If there is a lot of pvc then I let it soak inside glass container before using other container with new acetone.
I still can't think of any physically possible way for pure acetone to affect a copper surface that has only bare metal and possibly some oxide. (Of course, "pure" is an ideal that's never really attained.) I can certainly see it changing the appearance of a coin that had a layer of oil, wax, "nose grease", or some other material that would have "enhanced" the coin's "depth and luster". Yes, there's a scientific paper that demonstrates formation of acetic acid (which can attack copper and other metals) when acetone is exposed to light and humidity for a long period (hours). A number of people have tried to duplicate the result without success. I've seen claims that the original paper was published by an organization that sells a product that competes with acetone for degreasing metal, but I haven't verified that myself. There are some things you'll find on coins (including copper ones) that water won't dissolve or loosen. If you're very concerned about using acetone, you can use xylene or toluene instead, and it'll take care of a lot of them. Be careful, though; xylene and toluene are more toxic and slower to evaporate than acetone. They also aren't miscible with water, so rinsing with water after using them won't really do much. (Acetone is completely miscible with water.)
