Standing Liberty Quarter in Acetone Experiment

Here is the experiment I ran a year or so ago if it helps you at all:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/franklins-in-mint-sets-with-white-corrosion.351358/

I believe with a coin like this is it perfectly acceptable to experiment with - value is melt IMO, why not learn something from it that might help down the road if nothing else, in what not to do that would lead to damaging a coin that holds value above melt. Before anyone else gets started - I know you could sell this on eBay for more than melt, but it is eBay after all and we would be talking about an amount not worth your time or trouble if you get an unhappy buyer...

 

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Hi Ed, I have a pretty good SLQ collection - I'm working on 4 plus sets now, 2 slabbed / graded and two in albums, I even have a 1916, though no 17/18 overdate, I'm experimenting with this coin precisely because it's not a good example, I have no intention to deceive or profit from this, I'm just on an educational journey as a curious person. Here's one of my latest acquisitions.

 

K, he doesn’t want to dip it, it’s got years on it, it’ll look weird.

 

Try a two week soak in xylene - if still no effect John Lorenzo Conservation to the rescue assuming you live in the U.S.. I accept this challenge. PM me privately if xylene fails on this long term immersion duration.

John Lorenzo
Numismatist

 

That's really neat! Thanks for posting the link, so did you ever get any further with that Ben Franklin? Fascinating. I'm going to try a long soak in xylene next per ColonialJohn. This is fun stuff!

 

No, there was a point where progress stopped and the affected area was almost transparent but still white. The surface issues extended into the silver. I check it every so often to see if it darkens and crystallizes again.

 

Hello. I just am curious. Are you an expert on coin conservation?

 

That's fascinating! Thanks for the update!

 

Any pure solvent isn't a "cleaner" since the use would do no harm to the coin and would be undetectable after use.

 

So much wrong here... Xylene is not like "acetone on steroids", it is simply a different solvent from acetone. Like saying acetone is like water on steroids because it will dissolve styrofoam and water won't. Xylene (there are three of them and are usually sold as a mixture) is aromatic and will dissolve materials which are aromatic, whereas acetone usually won't.

I don't think amyl nitrate (and I think you meant amyl nitrite) was ever used as a model glue solvent. Xylene evaporates very slowly. Also water and Xylene don't mix.

 

Noted...but I find xylenes to be far more effective all around then acetone.

Maybe I'm thinking of toluene in the old model glues? I know they actually included Xylene too.
Aaah yes lol Amyl Nitrite is what was in Rush or Poppers and sniffed, don't do that kids!!! My bad on the misspelling.

Xylenes...is what I have from a local chemical supplier, see photo...and it does in fact evaporate unbelievably fast, way way fast! Maybe they just label it as xlenes because it's the mix...
Here's a pic...


Maybe I've had better luck with the xylene just because of the type of gunk I've chosen to clean off with it...luck of the draw maybe?
I guess they both evaporate plenty fast by comparison...and yes you are right about ability to mix with water...
The key difference between xylene and acetone is that xylene is less toxic, whereas acetone is the more toxic solvent. Xylene is nonpolar, and acetone is less polar; therefore, xylene can dissolve lipophilic substances, but acetone can dissolve both lipophilic and hydrophilic substances.

 

hey MIGuy i thought you would have seen a little difference. perhaps a different type of solvent will help. good luck man

 

Personally I've never gone beyond distilled water. In my opinion it's a neutral pH and has no contaminants, it works in some cases, mostly on organic solids by absorbing them into dissolved solids into the pure distilled water where a bottled drinking water of neutral pH and chlorines free, that contains dissolved solids wouldn't have room to take on much of anything. Again though it depends on what you are dealing with, there's all kinds of junk on coins, most of what I've encountered was dirt and grime which distilled water will work fine on and you can leave coins soaking for a long time without issue. If it's a paint or laquor or glue or anything like that, distilled water wouldn't touch it.

If it's a toning of some sort or posibly a plastic softener contaminant thats been there forever, distilled water wouldn't work I don't think, and I'm not sure if acetone or xylene gets the job done either.

A coin dip would probably work but it's been circulated. You are going to have to wear the coin a while for it to look normal again as its right appearance for the wear and age.

 

OK, toluene is the choice for glue sniffers. Toluene's one methyl group stuck on a benzene ring while xylene has two, so there are three different ones hard to separate and enough alike to not bother. Xylene is more toxic than acetone. Acetone is more polar than xylene.

 

"it works in some cases, mostly on organic solids by absorbing them into dissolved solids into the pure distilled water where a bottled drinking water of neutral pH and chlorines free, that contains dissolved solids wouldn't have room to take on much of anything." In a word...no. Pure distilled water has no dissolved solids, whereas most drinking water in the USA contains 0.05% dissolved solids.

 

Did I type the acetone xylene descriptions backwards?! I've been doing way too much trying to pay attention to things past my bed time lol!!!
You're sounding a lot like a chemist my friend...My dad is a PHD in physical chemistry who specialized in detergent research in his early career It's likely you have some soaps and detergents in your home he helped develop lol! He even authored a related entry in World Book Encyclopedia, I know you remember those

 

Very cool, mine is in Organic Chemistry.

 

My undergraduate institution, which had basically 100% in pre-med grads getting into med schools, used Organic Chemistry as the main weed out class - only 1/3-1/2 survived it. Suffice it to say, unlike my father and now daughter, I was not a pre-med.

 

I have a high school education and read a lot on everything and anything. I haven't paid a dime for any of it so if it fails me, it came at no cost.

Not sure what I wrote you disagreed with Kentucky. As I had typed, bottled water doesn't have room for much disolved solids as distilled water does which is why I think it works where a bottled water would be near useless and might just loosen mud or dirt or something only.
Also distilled water isn't mineralized where filtered, purified or bottled water is. It's pure H2O.

Unless it was my saying it worked on organic solids..... it would also work on inorganic solids like calcium, carbonates, potassium, iron, because distilled water is devoid of any minerals also.

 

cplradar - YES. Particularly with copper alloy coins. JPL