Is using pure acetone considered"cleaning"?

I've been reading about how to use pure acetone to get crud off of coins, especially silver coins. The person or persons who wrote the Internet articles say it's not considered "cleaning" the coin like scrubbing, using harsh chemicals, etc. They say its's safe. What are your opinions? I would love to bring my old silver back to life, but don't want to devalue the coins.

 

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From what I have gathered (hopefully corrected if wrong), improper cleaning comes from creating lines on the surface. This is also really bad because some of the surface material could have been removed in the process i.e. less silver than before.

It seems like unless you have actual gunk or PVC stains, it is best to just leave it alone. Tarnished silver is just something that happens and the consensus I have so far seen is to leave it be as it is natural.

 

Acetone isn't to bring old silver back to life.
It is used to remove certain contaminates, and will caution you that it is retelivity safe....that said one can't be 100% certain of results.
Knock on wood.... so far my usage of acetone I've had good results.
But ....Ive used it sparingly. Some coins old silver below Au. Grades may make the coin surface cleaned. Coins with orginial skin no matter how dark to me are desirable where shinny worn coin or so much.

 

Thanks, I agree. As much as I've read and heard about not cleaning old coins, I think I will stay cautious and leave the coins alone.

 

I have dipped in pure acetone before, and keep a bottle handy. I would not use it on your silver collection however. It will leave the fresh area exposed to the elements, and will tarnish. I used it on a 1984 DDO cent with crud on the reverse prior to selling, and also a few other coins I found in circulation that I was selling as well.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Acetone (pure grade, hardware store stuff) will not hurt your silver coins. I've used it many times, with no ill effects. It removes 'gunk' but not toning, so if you're thinking of using it on a 'hazy' or 'terminal state' (toning) silver coin, nothing ain't gonna happen. You need to use something like xylene for that and I've absolutely no experience with that stuff. You're also entering the ground floor of 'coin cleaning' so you need to tread easy........

Don't use acetone on copper.........ill effects abound.

 

That's unfortunate... I think I missed that advice before

 

Lots of anecdotal stories but no science to support that dipping and rinsing have any ill effects on copper

 

Xylene won't touch actual toning, either.

To remove toning, you use "dip", an acidic chemical mixture that dissolves the toning quickly and the coin's surface more slowly. As in "don't use dip unless you're really sure of what you're doing, or willing to accept the risk of ruining your coin."

 

Acetone removes foreign (organic) impurities from the surface of a coin, but doesn't touch the underlying metal. Thus, it is considered to be "conserving" a coin.

When you "clean" a coin, you disrupt the actual metal of the coin - dipping, polishing, brushing, etc.

Acetone is perfectly safe for silver and gold. There are many wild rumors that it will hurt copper, but I've never seen any proof.

I am currently conducting experiments to determine it's effects on aluminum coins. The jury has not yet reached a verdict on that one.

 

Shoot.......Doug always mentions weird toning/occurrences when employing acetone with copper. Not a lick of first hand experience from me. Just going on what has been archived here on CT.........

 

Doug alleges this reaction occurs. If you actually search the CT archives, all you'll see are unspecific, unverified, rumors of claims. I have furthermore never seen photographic evidence of this reaction. I have never seen a chemical proof of why this reaction could or should occur under normal use of acetone. Doug claims that he's read many, many reports from a wide variety of sources which claim it has happened, and that he's seen it himself. I would be very interested in reading some of these claims, @GDJMSP , if you could link them here, or provide references to articles we can read?

I personally have used acetone on dozens of copper coins, and never once seen an adverse reaction. I've done it on circulated, uncirculated red, and uncirculated brown. Never once have I seen any adverse reaction.

All I have ever seen is Doug claim that it has happened occasionally, and cite unspecific rumors that he has heard of it happening. Sorry, but this is not enough evidence for me to go on. If Doug can back up his claims with photographs, or if someone else can prove that it has happened, then I will believe it. Until then, I maintain that acetone is perfectly safe for copper.

That doesn't mean it can't happen, of course - you cannot prove a negative. Doug is right in that... anything is possible. All I'm saying is, I'll believe it when I see it.

 

Be careful not to confuse "dipping" with "rinsing with acetone."

In numismatic parlance, "dipping" refers to an acidic substance used to strip the surface of a coin. It absolutely has ill effects on any coin.

"Rinsing with acetone" is completely different. The precise language we use to describe these processes is important. I would not use the word "dipping" in association with acetone, because it is different.

 

Well, I've just gotten tons of advice, thanks. Im so new at this that I'm going to leave the coins alone for now. Maybe, down the road,
I'll get brave and try rinsing my coins.

 

Good Lord......upon inspection, I must try some acetone on copper........what the results will be is speculative. Living life real has its' challenges.......

 

It's what most of us old sods do.........

 

Lol, you're funny! Let us know what happens.

 

Do be sure to take quality before and after pictures, to record this momentous occasion for posterity.

 

Good Lord.......I must remember to post some cents of lore........'65 and earlier, and parked in acid laden flips