I soaked it in acetone nail polish remover and scrubbed it but it is still gold color. Why? The 2015 and 2000 penny and all the others are copper color. Just curious. I know you may think I'm silly or stupid, but I am honestly curious. Here's the best pictures I could get with the best lighting I could get.
Btw, don't soak in nail polish remover and scrub it. If your coin would have been valuable you would have just ruined it. Until you learn how to properly conserve a coin, NEVER do anything to it is the best course of action. Not "yelling" at you ma'am, just letting you know.
Instead of nail polish remover, grab yourself a container of pure acetone. With that said, do follow Medoraman's advice.
Yes, you never want to do that to coins worth value, just leave them alone unless you know what to do. No harm done since these coins aren't worth anything. Often pennies are used in science experiments and chemicals turn them silver or gold color.
I saw that video before. That is why I asked the question. thank you guys. I did look up ways to clean coins. I now know not to clean them unless needed. I also would like to know how to get corrosion off coins without causing damage or devaluing them.
First, a better understanding of what corrosion actually is may be helpful. Even though in some cases steps can be taken to arguably "improve" appearance, corrosion is damage and cannot simply be completely undone.
OK. I know I totally worded that wrong. The word corrosion just came to mind. What I meant was When a coin has a lot of build up on it or something stuck on it that does not wash off with proper cleaning of the coin in the basic cleaning solution. I do understand that corrosion is permanent damage.thank you for taking the time to give me info.
Usually in cleaning a coin, it is good to pay attention to what is called the polarity of the solvent. Water is a very polar solvent and will clean away a lot of salt-like contamination. Soaking a coin (or coins) in water will not harm them. Many here like to use distilled water, but tap water us usually fine as long as you blot the water off using a soft cloth (no rubbing!!!). If this does nothing, the next step could be acetone which dissolves lots of organic stuff. If it is still nasty, the next step would be toluene or xylene, both of which are very non-polar and are good for removing greasy or oily stuff. A good point was made that if you really see corrosion, that represents the destruction of the surface below the corrosion, and if you remove it, you will have pitting at the very least.
