A week in acetone - now what

German coins from World War II are made of zinc. The ones in good condition are black but it turns white in time. I don't know if you can clean them.

 

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I haven't found a way and goodness knows I have tried. Some website I looked on suggested sulfuric acid...that will just dissolve the coin.

 

MS70 might remove that remainder.

 

One needs a learning curve with that stuff.

 

I agree. Don't try it on currency.....

Heh.

 

There's always MS 70. Only problem is that 1. It should only be used on Mint State or Super Sliders (it gives the coin a mint luster that looks off on circulated coins. 2. It will remove any toning on the coin. 3. It does react with the coins metal. You use a Q-Tip and gently soak the coin and let it sit for a few seconds, take another Q-Tip soaked in MM 70 and GENTLY message the surface of the coin and then rinse with water (our water is hard, so I use distilled water). Dab dry with a micro fiber cloth. I only do this if washing the coin or acetone does't work.There is no acid in ME 70.

 

This one is grey, not black, so it's on its way to turning white. Oh well, it was as thought.

 

I can say category that Acetone makes copper coins with no other major problem look pretty good.
I haven't seen it do a thing for clad or silver.

 

In the end, the primary benefit from the knowledge conveyed in this thread is that I have mistakenly believed that cleaning coins is taboo, and this for about 76% of my lifetime. That belief has made me dismiss a number of coins on eBay larger than I could guess.

 

Acetone removes PVC and tape and some other gunk very well. It is 100% INACTIVE with metal so it will not remove toning or effect the coin's metal.

 

It's not quite so simple. Some cleaning is bad and some cleaning is OK

In very general terms, Removing toning by dipping in a chemical solution like thiourea or an abrasive method is generally considered bad and will reduce the value of a coin. Since this type of cleaning removes some surface metal, it's usually apparent when looking at a coin, especially if done by someone at home (if dipped by an expert, you may need to be an expert to see it).

Distilled water, acetone, or Xylene does not react with the toning on the coin. It only removes the "gunk" that may have accumulated on the surface (assuming the gunk is soluble in these liquids). Since it doesn't react with the metal, it is generally not noticeable (but you may see differences in the natural toning caused by the specific areas not being exposed to the same atmospheric conditions as the rest of the coin)

Hope that helps.

 

I have something out in the garage called "Goo-begone" or something like that. I think it's primary purpose is to remove excess adhesive that's left on a surface when something like a price tag is removed. Anyone ever try this stuff, or is this a surefire way to destroy a coin?

 

Except that isn't quite 100% accurate.

There are studies on this, such as:

http://www.stonybrook.edu/vescalab/research/research7.html

<<<
Copper reacts photochemically with acetone and water vapor to form acetic acid. The acetic acid then reacts with copper to form copper acetate. Over a period of 18 hours the copper foil that was immersed in acetone and exposed to ambient light developed blue crystal deposits as shown in the optical photomicrograph in Fig. 1(left). The acetone in the beaker had evaporated leaving behind a strong odor of acetic acid.
>>>

 

My Alma Mater....

 

Goo-Gone contains (per their MSDS) light petroleum distillates, limonene, and orange extract.

Light petroleum distillates might be similar to kerosene.
Limonene comes from lemons.

 

I should have excluded copper when I talked about using acetone. I NEVER mess with copper coins, I give up, I've never had success trying to remove anything from copper. Well, I still rinse off dirt. I'm going to try, on a out of pocket cent, MS 70, it's label says to try experimenting on cents with it.

 

I rinse off copper cents with acetone before storing them, just in case there's any fresh fingerprints on there waiting to burn in. Beyond that I've never seen it do
much either.

 

What if you soaked in acetone for a short period of time and don't let the acetone evaporate? If longer soaks are required, can you keep the jar covered so it isn't exposed to ambient light? If the coin has a short soak and is immediately rinsed in DI or distilled water, will that remove any acetic acid?

 

This was said above.