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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 7878212, member: 112&quot;]The whole process is fairly simple from beginning to end. In the very beginning the coin was probably stored in a soft vinyl coin flip, but it might have been any of the many coin albums that have vinyl pages and or covers. But in any event it was something made of soft vinyl plastic which contains a softening agent - that&#039;s what makes the plastic soft and pliable. And it&#039;s that softening agent that ultimately damages the coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>For those who don&#039;t understand the process, have you ever opened a brand new vinyl shower curtain - and noticed the smell ? Well, what you&#039;re smelling are the gasses being put off by the vinyl as it degrades. And if you ever open a new package of soft vinyl coin flips, and smell it, you&#039;ll notice the exact same smell you do with the shower curtain, and it has the same cause.</p><p><br /></p><p>A lot of folks think it&#039;s direct contact between the coin and the vinyl that causes the problem, but it isn&#039;t direct contact at all that causes it. It&#039;s what you&#039;re smelling that causes the problem - the gasses being put off by the plastic. Those gasses then condense on the coin and that condensation builds up over time getting thicker and thicker, until it eventually forms a slippery and even slimy film. </p><p><br /></p><p>In the beginning the film is clear, almost impossible to see, which is why many never notice it at first. But with time the film gains color due to aging, it&#039;ll go from clear to a very light shade of green, gradually getting darker green with more time. Then it will probably turn a tan color, and eventually brown as it begins to dry out. And it begins to dry out because there are no more fresh gasses being put off. As it it dries out completely it can turn dark brown, or even black in some cases. And these changing colors are also why some folks don&#039;t recognize what they are seeing because most of what you read only talks about PVC residue as being clear or green. Hardly anybody ever mentions the darker colors that are inevitable.</p><p><br /></p><p>The damage that is done to the coins is caused by this film, that when it mixes with humidity in the air, turns into an acid and that acid literally eats into the surface of the coin, it corrodes the metal, eats the metal if you will.</p><p><br /></p><p>To remove PVC residue most folks know of using acetone because it will dissolve the film and wash it away. But xylene will work as well, if not even a bit better it is a stronger solvent than acetone. And xylene does not react with copper as acetone sometimes does. But, acetone, and xylene work best on this film before it dries out. Once it becomes dry and hard, it becomes more difficult to remove, but soaking for extended time helps. </p><p><br /></p><p>But when there&#039;s still some present on the coin, then one needs something stronger than acetone or xylene. And that means you need to use another acid, to remove the remains of the corrosion caused by the first acid from the film. And that&#039;s what E-Z-Est is, a commercial coin dip that contains acid just like all coin dips do. </p><p><br /></p><p>The acid in the E-Z-Est, when diluted, slowly removes the remains of the corrosion, (think of it as silver rust in this case), and it also removes the grey toning that can be seen on the coin. Once the corrosion remains and toning are gone you can easily see where the acid in the film had eaten into the surface of the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s about all there is to it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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