Using Acetone on 40% Silver coins

I have several Ikes that I have rescued from mint cellophane. A lot of them have a cloudy look to them due to residue from the mint packaging.

My question is, is acetone the best way to clear them up? If so how long should they stay in the acetone?

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have....Mont

 

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I don't know how long, but do it OUTDOORS. Acetone has a very low flash point, just below 0° Fahrenheit, and its vapors can travel to an ignition source (like a furnace, water heater, or electrical appliance) and flash back.

 

I had fingerprints on some silver rounds and coins that I bathed in Acetone for 12 hours. The fingerprints were gone and the coins looked great. Don't know for sure what's on your coins. They say organic material will come off with acetone. I had an apartment at the time and I just kept the windows open.

 

I do do it in a well ventilated area as well as keep lid tight on any container containing acetone.

I have used on LMC I find in circulation...usually leaving them in over night or up to 24 hours if needed. But these are usually really dirty. My Ikes are UNC. just have a film over them.


Will Post picture of one in a little bit. Can see what I am referring to

 

I'd give it a shot for an acetone bath can't really hurt them. The other route would be something like Ezest and that would ruin the coin probably.

 

Here is one of my 1971-S Silver UNC. The white marks are from the mint cello.

I know if you leave coins in acetone for too long it will dull the luster. There appears to be full luster under all that white and am worried about dulling that.

 

No, it won't. Acetone is chemically incapable of affecting the metal of a coin. I regularly leave coins in acetone for days at a time. I just pulled one out of a two-day soak today, and it's in for another two days.

 

Do you know if the previous owner was a smoker? Smoke film?

 

I don't know. However all my uncirculated Ikes were still in their mint cellophane when I got them.

The white stuff (which is worse on the '71's ) is residue from the cellophane they were sealed in.

I must have misunderstood. Thank you for clearing this up. I feel much better. Not sure I want to try on the coin above first as it is a DIVA. But will try on another one of my '71's to see how it comes out. If it works this one will be next.

I have also seen silver coins on eBay that have a haze built up around the devices. Was told this was from over dipping. Does acetone cause this?

 

No because acetone is not a "dip" like they were talking about.

 

Acetone is a base and Ezest is an acid. Google those to get a better understanding.

 

I've had some good success using acetone on silver coins. I usually try a distilled water soak first to see if that will fix the issue. Sometimes that works to remove materials on a coin. I have not had acetone negatively impact the appearance of any of them.

 

Nope. In fact, it likely wasn't overdipping either, unless the dipping process wasn't rinsed and the residue from it was left on the coin (which is unlikely). That haze is what the dip is supposed to remove. Overdipping will lead to a nice clean, unmarred coin which looks for all the world like it should have booming luster, yet has none at all. If you see one, you'll know on the spot what happened to it.

I really need to sacrifice a Morgan or something to have a good image of an overdipped coin. They're hard to find on the Internet.

 

Acetone (C3H6O) has a pH of 7, which means that the substance, on its own, is neither an acid nor a base. This pH value, which is about the same as pure water, shows that acetone is relatively neutral.

 

I think I'd say that acetone doesn't have a pH. It's non-polar (mostly) and non-ionic. It's not an acid or a base.

I see that Googling "acetone ph" yields several sites claiming that it has a pH of 7 (neutral), but I still think that's a misstatement.

 

Actually, acetone is a Lewis base due to the lone pair of electrons on the oxygen. However, it's an extremely weak one so it has no effect on the pH of an aqueous solution.

OP - The haze is not from the cellophane, it's due to the permeability of cellophane and improper storage. In my experience, this haze cannot be removed with the classic solvents, i.e. water, acetone, xylene. I've never tried it but I hear MS70 is good for removing haze.

 

I do not think the residue is from the cellophane, unless it was heated way above normal storage, but it can allow diffusion of chemicals in moisture or air ( Do not only read the Wiki part about 'low permeability' because they are not considering long term ( years) of storage as usually food products in cellophane are shorter term. However in general biology class, and old fashion dialysis machines they used cellophane as a barrier to allow substances including water to move across the membrane from high to low concentration. Cigars are still commonly wrapped in cellophane so they can exchange moisture to the preferred humidity in storage.

I suspect the haze is from storage environmental effects and the reaction will only be removed by a material such as EZest ( Jeweluster for old timers. Dilute well for use.

 

Dang ! Thad beat me!

 

Tell that to a Grignard reagent.

 

Acetone will NOT affect any metal... it dissolves organics.... you may not like what is underneath the contamination... however, that is not the result of acetone.