Apologies in advance for the poor photos, but this is the best I can do it seems with my phone. I got a Mercury dime that looks lustrous and mint state, except it seems to have black stains (particularly on the obverse) that I assume are PVC stains. I have put this in acetone and it might have slightly improved it, but it doesn't seem to completely go away. Perhaps my pics will add to the confusion. Anyway, suggestions on this coin would be appreciated. One thing I have learned from this forum is that black is not good on a coin, no matter how small.
It's hard to tell what you are seeing. PVC is usually green, black is from toning to something corrosive. Dark spots would take something much stronger than acetone. With out better pics it is hard to tell you with way you should go.
Thanks. These stains are weird, because they do not look like normal toning, but at the same time do not appear to be PVC (if it's supposed to be green). I just have gotten weird batches of coins lately, so I've been performing surgery lately with acetone and a toothpick. This one I believe came alone from an eBay order. I'll see if I can post a better pic.
Yeah, that is something that you shouldn't mess with give it a rinse in didtilled water and put it away. It looks to be environmental, trying to remove that would ruin the coin. Here is a merc that I found in coinstar. It has the same type of toning.
