Using Acetone on 40% Silver coins

Purple Passion..

 

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We called it Purple Jesus for, um, obvious reasons.

 

Continuation of post # 27 and #38. Hopefully, one of you will get some MS-70, use it on a hazy proof Ike and post the results so we can enlighten him and others.

NEVERMIND...life's too short.

Image #1 (6523) Hazy Proof.

Image #2 (6524) Hazy Proof treated with acetone. tick-tock, tick-tock, ZZzzzz, tick-tock, tick-tock,

Image #3 (6525) Hazy Proof (fast track conservation) after MS-70. Note, I left some haze on the edges as I prefer a coin that still looks totally original and not fresh dipped.

Image #4 Complete conservation (dip) added another 35 seconds!

 

I have heard of this product before some like it some don't...If this were a proof I would consider getting, but alas I am having this problem on business strikes fresh out of mint packaging. Therefore I decided to give acetone a shot as I already had a supply of it. If it doesn't take care of the haziness I will have to look into your recommendation.

I must say your pictures make it look like acetone may not do anything for the haze. How long did you leave it in the acetone?

 

Too long...twenty minutes; however, I already knew I was wasting my time as it would not remove the haze! Some myths die real hard and get passed on, and on and on by the uninformed. Soap & water works on certain byproducts. Acetone works on certain byproducts. MS-70 works on certain byproducts. Ammonia works on certain byproducts. Liquid... ...get the idea. There are all kinds of chemicals at your local stores that are used to remove things from metal.

I wish I could help; but I know very little about anything! If you are not a chemist, professional conservator, coin doctor, or wise old collector, you will need to experiment or take some classes. Perhaps, @SuperDave can give you some tips.

 

MS-70 an acid like Ezest?

 

Quite the contrary; according to the MSDS it has a pH in excess of 13....

Others have their uses for it, but I won't touch the stuff.

 

I'm a big fan of acetone but it has never helped me with what I call haze on MS or Proof coins. Acetone is great on organic stuff but I never thought of haze as being organic.
MS70 is my first choice for haze, just learn the proper way to use it.
The last option is a dip such as EZest. This is where folks get in trouble and really mess up their coins. The proper way to use a dip is a thread of it's own.

 

Acetone worked great for me on fingerprints. I used it on Rounds and Maples and the results were great.

 

I took the coin out that I had put in last night. Unfortunately most of the haze is still there. However it did bring out the luster underneath it more.

I went ahead and put the coin pictured in OP in some fresh acetone. Plan to leave in for a coupe of hours to see if it will bring out the luster on this one as well.

 

Ketchup can work wonders!

 

Insider doesn't seem to be getting much traction here, but he's right - MS70 is usually brilliant at fixing this particular problem.

 

MS70 is a potassium hydroxide solution with some water miscible organic solvents. Kind of like the best of both worlds, the KOH will react with organic and inorganic materials and the organic solvents help to float them off. Most metals do not have a bad reaction to bases like KOH.

 

For heaven's sake, though, keep it away from anything with exposed zinc. Or aluminum.

 

Yes, and I don't think those solvents are necessary for the application being discussed. A plain sodium hydroxide solution seems to work just as well - note that I'm changing the topic slightly from KOH to NaOH. You can buy "food grade" NaOH very cheaply (I may be the only one who didn't know this, but lye is used in making pretzels).

Just to be clear I'm only talking about this in the context of US coins from the late 60s and 70s that have picked up that whitish gook from the mint set or proof set packaging.

 

And just to add, solid lye drain cleaner, available at many grocery stores is 100% sodium hydroxide.