Acetone is pretty safe for removing tape residue and gunk , but will not remove toning , it's always safer to start with the weakest cleaner and work up , start with a soak in distilled water . Be sure to use it in a well ventilated room . It also matters what you are trying to clean , also never use nail polish remover as it has many impurities that can harm a coin in the future . rzage
True. Acetone is a hydrocarbon, used as a thinner for paints and as a solvent. It is non-reactive with metals.
Acetone won't hurt your Silver coins, I can't speak for copper/brass. I use it on most any Silver coin I get my mitts on, removes PVC residue quite well.
I've experimented with pocket change and apparently no harm done so far, but I wouldn't risk it with anything of value. Surely one of the copper guys will know.
According to the chemical compatability chart that I use, Copper is rated A-excellent, with acetone, meaning no reaction. http://www.coleparmer.com/techinfo/chemcomp.asp Brass and bronze rate the same.
Thanks I would like to thank everyone for their input on my question about acetone. CT sure puts the coin neighborhood on ebay to shame!!!:thumb:
Yes - eduard has used it on at least an 1808 Large Cent. He said it helped his 1808 - but I do not know what the before and after looked like.
Something to keep in mind about acetone. It will remove most anything organic. Once that's removed the surface of the coin may look much worse than it did before. More hairlines may show and the color of the surface can be different where the organic matter once was. It's always a gamble to mess with a coin.
I know for sure if you plan on putting a Barack Obama sticker on it and selling it on a televised shopping network, acetone is a good way to prep coins. All jokes aside, acetone is safe as long as you rinse them with water afterwards and then gently pat dry.
If you don't rinse afterwards there could be some acetone left on the coin, which won't react with it BUT will react with anything else it touches. Especially if you want to, say, put it in a plastic flip. The acetone will eat it. If what you want to remove is organic (not tape residue or the like) you can also use xylol. It's even more caustic than acetone and is actually quite poisonous, but it will remove a lot of stuff. I've used both acetone and xylol on silver and copper to no ill effect. Xylol can be purchased at a hardware store, look in with the paint thinners.
What you want to bet that that chart is not talking about coins, but stuff like copper pipes or fittings where it doesn't matter if the copper changes color ? There have been literally hundreds, if not thousands, of reports posted on the various coin forums over the years of collectors using acetone on their copper coins - only to have the coin turn all sorts of weird colors. I would not recommend using acetone on copper unless it is to save the coin from potentially worse damage if it is left alone.
One aspect is that even though the acetone itself evaporates into the air, the stuff that the acetone dissolved will not if any trace residue remains on the coin. The purpose of the water is to remove any trace residue of dissolved materials while they are still soft and capable of being removed.
Very true,but there is evidence that distilled water can pick up Carbon Dioxide from air and become a weak acidic solution unless it is freshly distilled or stored in glass. I prefer to hold the coin vertical and rinse with fresh acetone out of the container which will have no contaminants and will flash off entirely than trust distilled water to remove any residue which may or may not be soluble in water. Just my opinion. Jim
Here is an article that was posted earlier in a discussion of acetone. I did not and still do not think that it is relevant for the method and purpose most use acetone, but is something that should be considered. http://www.sunysb.edu/vescalab/research/research7.html
True. That's what I was wanting someone to bring up. Residue is the problem but a multi step bath with fresh acetone takes care of this. I can't see the acetone reacting with anything past that point. The water seem to bring on a possibility of leaving other stuff on the surface of the coin and that makes folks think they need to pat dry the coin. I won't do that either. But it's a great way to mess up a proof. I'll admit, I do use water but acetone is most always the final bath.
