Identify that damage! #5

This is not "dipping." Acetone is an organic solvent incapable of damaging either silver or toning. Many collectors - myself included - soak every raw coin they purchase in acetone as soon as they receive it.

PVC, on the other hand, will damage the coin, no "maybe" about it. We discuss it with great frequency here.

 

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Thank you for your response. It seems to be a whole different color than the zinc rot green. Hope your 1903-O wasn't expensive, and that you got a good deal on it. I am wondering what a conservator would do to "restore" it. I'm like you and very hesitant to clean any part of a coin. But I do wonder if the conservator behind the curtain at the TPG has a bottle of acetone back there or if he has some high tech laser cleaning system.

One dealer I went to... Told me that he uses high pressure stream to get rid of carbon spots. I just about hit the ceiling with fright.

I have always left coins the way I find them, unless I'm doing an experiment on something circulated from the corner store just out of curiosity of what might be under the dirt. All the books on collecting pretty much say "Don't EVER clean a coin". Have a great day, and I'm sure it won't get worse if you are storing it correctly now.

 

You are absolutely wrong. That's the point. Nothing except intervention will save the coin. Leaving it alone is a death sentence.

 

Indeed, PVC residue contains hydrochloric acid which just keeps eating, the effect is exacerbated by storing the coin properly since it can't even evaporate away. The residue must be removed ASAP when found!!!

 

Okay! Thanks for the stern instructions. I'll get right on it and post the results here when I'm done.
I'm guessing I'll need pure acetone instead of the nail polish remove that I have.

 

NEVER NEVER NEVER RUB. Rubbing will always leave hairlines, whether it be with a q-tip, a finger or sandpaper. Now on circulated coins, I will ease up on this a bit since the surface is already disturbed. Acetone is good for organic residue. @BadThad can check me on this, but I think PVC damage starts off with the plasticizer leaving goo on the coin and trapping some of the plastic or degraded plastic which can be a source of hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid). Soaking the coin in acetone should not damage silver at all (copper is another story). Leaving that green on there will cause further damage. Just be careful and slow, you can do, but you can seldom un-do.

 

If the nail polish remover is pure acetone, no problem, Many of these contain lanolin or some such stuff to keep it from drying out your skin...coins don't like lanolin.

 

Thanks, I understand. Will acetone remove any toning? There's a neat tone on the obverse that I would hate to remove. Then again, it would be worse to have the PVC destroy the rest of it..

 

Acetone or xylene (another organic solvent) shouldn't remove any toning.

 

If the toning is typical silver sulfide, acetone won't touch it. There's a very small but non-zero chance that during the coins life something got deposited on it which resulted in the color - the deposited substance itself adds the color - and if that "something" is organic the acetone could remove it. I sincerely doubt you'll run into this - the reverse of your coin is too nice, it's been carefully preserved - just mentioning it in the interest of full disclosure.

Acetone is a real numismatic go-to. It removes leftover tape residue, wax, lacquer, all sorts of annoying stuff. As I mentioned, every raw coin I get (which doesn't have crud on the surface) goes into an acetone bath the moment I receive it. A "PVC infestation" is not visible at the beginning, and can resemble a hazy colorless surface for a while before it turns green. By the time it's green, it's time to act decisively. This is why I mention full immersion - you already know the coin has been exposed to PVC, but you don't know whether it's still in the formational process elsewhere on the coin.

In the case of coins with crud/dirt/stuff on the surface, of course one must contemplate the effect of removing some or all of that crud, and often the right decision is not to touch it.