i biought some old costa rican colones coins and were glued down to a peice of paper. i removed off what i could but some is still stuck to it. my uncle(who collects coins btw) suggested i use acetone (found in nail polish remover) or rubbing alcohol? are these good? any other suggestions would be great
Acetone is ok from what I hear on everything other than copper coins, but it has to be hardware store acetone. Nail polish remover has too many other chemicals in it that will ruin your coin. I have found rubbing alcohol to be useless. What ever you do, don't rub your coins, or use anything abrasive. I know others will chime in with their do's and don'ts and coin cleaning is always a flashpoint.
You have to use pure acetone, it will evaporate off the coin after the soak. Also many people recommend a rinse in distilled water and be sure to be careful its quite flammable stuff. :devil:
This. Never use nail polish remover, and use outside away from flame. Pure acetone can be found in hardware stores.
A soak in 100% acetone would be the way to go. Be patient, it may take a while to dissolve the glue. Believe it or not, it was at one time acceptable to paint a varnish on coins. Acetone also will fix that, but it will take forever.
Also places like Wal-Mart and Home Depot's paint departments will usually dispose of the acetone after use.
When addressing a surface problem, always follow the solvent polarity ladder. Soak for an hour in each of the following or until the problem is removed: 1) distilled water 2) acetone 3) xylene
It depends on the glue used. Many are water soluble and an extended soaking in distilled water is all that will be needed. If the water doesn't work then move on to acetone. Rubbing alcohol is also safe but it comes in many different strengths. In general the higher the percentage of alcohol the better, but it doesn't often work that well on glues.
