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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 2836413, member: 112&quot;]You already went past that point when you did this - </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>You never even want to rub a coin with your fingers, or anything else. For once you do, the coin will forever fall under the harshly cleaned designation.</p><p><br /></p><p>The real problem is that you were using acetone to remove something it could not dissolve. As I&#039;ve said in a great many threads there is a very short list of things that acetone will dissolve: PVC residue, tape residue, fresh (stress fresh) fingerprints, a few glues, some shellacs and varnishes (stress some), and some paints (again stress some). That&#039;s about it. Put another way, it&#039;s not good for anything else.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now BadThad, or Kentucky, can probably give you a complete list of what acetone will work on and what it won&#039;t - they are chemists. But what I listed above are the common things you might find on coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for xylene, it&#039;s safe to use. If ya get it on your skin it&#039;s not going to hurt you. I have literally taken a bath in the stuff before. No you don&#039;t want to drink it, and no you don&#039;t want to stand over a bowl or can of it and steadily breathe in the vapors. But what you might inhale by chance in the course of using it isn&#039;t going to hurt you.</p><p><br /></p><p>The benefit of xylene is that it will dissolve a lot of stuff that acetone will not. And it will not harm the coin in any way. It will not remove toning.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now when you don&#039;t know what&#039;s on a coin and thus you don&#039;t know what to try using, then follow the directions BadThad gives in the link he provided. You start with distilled water, then try acetone, then try xylene. And there is a procedure for using each one and it&#039;s basically the same. I describe it in this thread - </p><p><a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/proper-acetone-procedure.193708/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/proper-acetone-procedure.193708/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/proper-acetone-procedure.193708/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Think of it like steps. Distilled water is first, acetone is second, and xylene is third. </p><p><br /></p><p>If none of the 3 work, then the only thing left to try is a coin dip. But ya need to know what you are doing before you ever use a coin dip ! If you do not - don&#039;t use it.</p><p><br /></p><p>But you never ever want to try and rub the coin with anything. Not your fingers, not Q-tips, not a cloth or rag - no matter how soft you think it is, not with anything at all ! Because once ya do - it&#039;s all over.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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