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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 26723818, member: 27832&quot;]I still can&#039;t think of any physically possible way for pure acetone to affect a copper surface that has only bare metal and possibly some oxide. (Of course, &quot;pure&quot; is an ideal that&#039;s never really attained.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I can <i>certainly</i> see it changing the appearance of a coin that had a layer of oil, wax, &quot;nose grease&quot;, or some other material that would have &quot;enhanced&quot; the coin&#039;s &quot;depth and luster&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, there&#039;s a scientific paper that demonstrates formation of acetic acid (which can attack copper and other metals) when acetone is exposed to light and humidity for a long period (hours). A number of people have tried to duplicate the result without success. I&#039;ve seen claims that the original paper was published by an organization that sells a product that competes with acetone for degreasing metal, but I haven&#039;t verified that myself.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are some things you&#039;ll find on coins (including copper ones) that water <i>won&#039;t</i> dissolve or loosen. If you&#039;re very concerned about using acetone, you can use xylene or toluene instead, and it&#039;ll take care of a lot of them. Be careful, though; xylene and toluene are more toxic and slower to evaporate than acetone. They also aren&#039;t miscible with water, so rinsing with water after using them won&#039;t really do much. (Acetone is completely miscible with water.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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