Acetone Bath - It definitely works on PVC damaged coins

The distilled water is a superfluous expense, as acetone evaporates without a trace. Heck, the imperceptible contaminants in distilled water still make it less pure than acetone.

 

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Just don't leave a steel cent in an acetone bath. I'm just saying.

 

Why? What do you think will happen?

 

I know what will happen, and you'll have a completely ruined steel cent.

 

Perhaps you know, could you share it with the rest of us?

 

I had a really, really nice looking steel cent. Got it in a group of other coins, so I literally had nothing in it (money-wise.)

It had some PVC residue on it, so I decided to give it a quick soak and see if it would dissolve.

Got EXTREMELY sidetracked...and forgot about it. Like, for a couple days forgot about it.

When I came back, it was completely corroded - like you could barely tell what year it was any more. Don't have pictures because I threw it into a bag of my boss's wheat cents as an extra. That's how nasty I ruined that coin!

So, please, folks, do NOT soak your steel cents in acetone.

 

Acetone is completely non-reactive with metals. Sounds like you removed some nail polish or something organic that was covering the coin.

 

Only if the entire inside of the coin was rust, and the entire outer coating of the coin was shiny steel cent.

 

You can believe what you wish, of course, but since the laws of physics and chemistry require that acetone be physically incapable of affecting steel, this might be a good place for a fallback position.

 

All I know is what happened. I have no reason to lie about it.

Let's just say it was a miracle of Joe Pesci, then.

 

While the acetone will evaporate, the whole point of using acetone is to dissolve the contaminants. If you don't completely remove the contaminants, when the acetone evaporates they will be redeposited on the coin. The distilled water rinse will ensure that everything is completely removed.

 

I didn't know Joe Pesci could do that. Acetone is not only miscible with water, but it can take water out of the air. What you saw was the reaction with moisture and oxygen.

 

And rinsing in clean acetone instead of distilled water, to me, makes more sense.

 

Actually doing both makes sense,rinse with distilled water and then use a clean acetone bath to remove any clinging water. Especially with coins that have crowded or rough surfaces ( ancients) and might retain the water in tight spaces.

 

Also, I don't know why this happens - but don't put aluminum coins in acetone. They will get ruined. Learned that the hard way.

I have no idea what the chemistry or science behind it is, and I realize it doesn't make sense. It's just my experience.

 

Works on 9MM's too.

 

"soak them" for how long? in glass dish of some sort? and do you flip them over mid soak?

 

I post this link every once in a while, I guess its that time again. Here is an article that I wrote a few years ago about how to use acetone: http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=41&Number=2921881

 

Thanks.

 

Good read Jason, thanks.