I agree - huh ? Xylene is used by hundreds if not thousands of people every single day - with no to minimal precautions taken. Painters use the stuff by the gallon cleaning brushes, spray guns, all kinds of painting equipment. And there are dozens of other trades that use it all the time.
Since the ammonia seems to have some affect, (base?) does that mean an acid dip will not? I am not suggesting putting all of these different solvents on the same coin. (Acid dip) As these others have already been used: acetone, xylene, ammonia. Continued use of different solvents and I think eventually something may harm the surface. I bet V Kurt Bellman might have some magic elixir for this splotch.
I think he is just afraid I will have my face a few inches away from it as I Am trying to work off the crud with a q-tip in an unventilated area
Cover your nose and mouth with a bandana. It will stop some of the fumes. Or a painters mask. Any new photos?
No, it won't. Not a bit. It won't even slow them down. We're talking about individual molecules, not dust particles or droplets. People who have to work with stuff like this a lot are supposed to wear respirators with cartridges that actually do absorb the bad stuff. Doing it for a few hours as a hobby project, I wouldn't bother. You get more exposure to the harmful stuff filling your car's tank -- and we won't even talk about running a two-cycle lawn mower or leaf-blower engine.
@USS656 - Let 'er rip! (the reverse is beautiful, just polish the obverse) Or, you could sell it on the Bay as a 'monster milk spot' coin - simpletons love 'monster' coins and will pay a premium for the monstrosities - you'll be able to recoup your chemicals' cost and have some $$ left over
Our good friends at edynamicmarketing somehow escaped my ignore list, and I've been seeing a steady stream of their "MONSTER TONED" victims. I feel like messaging them, "Hey, stop leaving perfectly nice coins lying around where the monsters mark their territory!"
continuing to thin after 24 hours, rinsed in distilled, then ammonia, worked it over with Q-tip dipped in fresh ammonia, rinsed in ammonia, and back into fresh dose of ammonia.
I had no illusions from the start that I could only hope to make this coin into a better looking piece of bullion. Endless days of soak, rinse, repeat will not undue the harm caused by the reaction the mystery substance had to the silver. Then there is nothing to say that it will not return over time.