ldhair

Go ahead. Swirl that Q-Tip. Grind the garbage across the coin. 
If anyone must use Q-Tips, just roll the Q-Tip, not swirl, using no pressure at all. Still not a good idea but you will mess up fewer coins. All you want to do is spread/flow the acetone across the surface with as little contact as possible. Still a bad idea. 
Let's talk about testing. With a clean dropper put a drop of the fresh acetone you are using on a clean glass slide and let it dry. Now lets test the Q-Tips to be sure they are safe. Acetone can melt the stem of some Q-Tips. You don't want that on your coin. Soak the end of the Q-Tip in acetone for a minute or so. Touch it against a clean glass slide to leave a small sample and let it dry. Now put both slides under a scope and hope that both samples are clear. 
I have removed PVC from well over a thousand coins over the years and never had the need to contact the surface of the coin with anything but acetone. Let the acetone do it's work with baths with no rubbing. Test the used acetone after each bath under the scope. You will see the progress and you will know when the acetone has done all it can do. It's also wise to flow fresh acetone over the coin as a final step. A squirt bottle works well for this but be sure the bottle is acetone safe.
I'm not going to get into the proper way of giving a coin a bath. That is a long story with several ways that work well. My favorite involves shot glasses. You only waste an ounce of acetone per bath and the edge of the coin are the only thing that come in contact with anything.  

Go ahead. Swirl that Q-Tip. Grind the garbage across the coin. 
If anyone must use Q-Tips, just roll the Q-Tip, not swirl, using no pressure at all. Still not a good idea but you will mess up fewer coins. All you want to do is spread/flow the acetone across the surface with as little contact as possible. Still a bad idea. 
Let's talk about testing. With a clean dropper put a drop of the fresh acetone you are using on a clean glass slide and let it dry. Now lets test the Q-Tips to be sure they are safe. Acetone can melt the stem of some Q-Tips. You don't want that on your coin. Soak the end of the Q-Tip in acetone for a minute or so. Touch it against a clean glass slide to leave a small sample and let it dry. Now put both slides under a scope and hope that both samples are clear. 
I have removed PVC from well over a thousand coins over the years and never had the need to contact the surface of the coin with anything but acetone. Let the acetone do it's work with baths with no rubbing. Test the used acetone after each bath under the scope. You will see the progress and you will know when the acetone has done all it can do. It's also wise to flow fresh acetone over the coin as a final step. A squirt bottle works well for this but be sure the bottle is acetone safe.
I'm not going to get into the proper way of giving a coin a bath. That is a long story with several ways that work well. My favorite involves shot glasses. You only waste an ounce of acetone per bath and the edge of the coin are the only thing that come in contact with anything.  

Thinking about the mass of “error” coins people think they have found, but are really just damage.
Scene: ANA Convention in a look-a-like suburb of Chicago. (Where all the cicadas are “zombies,” and all the birds think they are hawks.)
Imagine several display cases cluttered with parking lot coins. Maybe 1st case showing paved lot with a section of asphalt complete with lane paint and trash (maybe a clump of weeds for that natural touch), strewn with fast-food road-kill cents and nickels, plus a bit of trash.
Add to that a 2nd case coated with blue gravel, rocks, cigaret butts, spilled coffee, assorted dirt and more convenience store parking lot coins.
And a 3rd case with grooved concrete, sharp yellow lines, and coins with long defacing scrapes matching the concrete….
These could include toy trucks and cars, enlarged copies of chat board messages and photos about wonderful error coin finds; and maybe a projection of some internet scammers’ videos touting junk.
      Not sure how this might be handled by ANA judges. But when the Convention closed, the janitor could sweep it all away. No security problems.

I’m VKurtB and I approve of this message. I once bought a 15 page lot of coins from various European countries in those slide in long holders that go into a vinyl containing page. Well, that was my big project in the summer of 2022. The total number of coins was about 200 or more, and every one of them ended up with an acetone bath due to the vinyl. The obviousness depended on the actual metal of each coin. British 0.50 silver had the greenest presentation, but many Cu/Ni coins actually had a thicker coating. I used a Greysheet promotional shot glass, and some Petri dishes. You should have felt the vinyl slime left behind in the glass wear.

Go ahead. Swirl that Q-Tip. Grind the garbage across the coin. 
If anyone must use Q-Tips, just roll the Q-Tip, not swirl, using no pressure at all. Still not a good idea but you will mess up fewer coins. All you want to do is spread/flow the acetone across the surface with as little contact as possible. Still a bad idea. 
Let's talk about testing. With a clean dropper put a drop of the fresh acetone you are using on a clean glass slide and let it dry. Now lets test the Q-Tips to be sure they are safe. Acetone can melt the stem of some Q-Tips. You don't want that on your coin. Soak the end of the Q-Tip in acetone for a minute or so. Touch it against a clean glass slide to leave a small sample and let it dry. Now put both slides under a scope and hope that both samples are clear. 
I have removed PVC from well over a thousand coins over the years and never had the need to contact the surface of the coin with anything but acetone. Let the acetone do it's work with baths with no rubbing. Test the used acetone after each bath under the scope. You will see the progress and you will know when the acetone has done all it can do. It's also wise to flow fresh acetone over the coin as a final step. A squirt bottle works well for this but be sure the bottle is acetone safe.
I'm not going to get into the proper way of giving a coin a bath. That is a long story with several ways that work well. My favorite involves shot glasses. You only waste an ounce of acetone per bath and the edge of the coin are the only thing that come in contact with anything.  

1869 silver three cent piece, PCGS graded AU 58 in old green label holder, one of the rarest coins in my collection. The original mintage was 4,500 pieces, but most were probably never released and melted at the mint in 1873:


I note that two recent participants in this thread have posted more than once without an intervening post by another member.  I don't know what Idhair's position on this is, but it seems to me that the idea of "following the lead picture post" would be to post a single coin, and it is another member's challenge to "follow" it by posting a coin of the same type or date or otherwise as permitted by the rules. We rarely get to post silver three cent pieces on this topic, and I have more, but I think that other members should have a chance to participate first.

1860 25C PR62

1863 25C PR61

1887 25C PF62 CAC

I have been a member of the ANA for more years than I can remember. I never receive anything from them. No mail, emails or anything else. They are too busy fighting with each other to care.  

Welcome to the NGC chat board.
    If the first coin was issued as a proof by the government that issued it and is generally accepted as such, the "MS" designation on the label would be a mechanical error of the "labeling defect" variety and would be corrected by NGC without charge. See NGC’s Mechanical Errors / Returns Policy | NGC (ngccoin.com).  I recommend that you contact NGC Customer Service (service@ngccoin.com or (855) 472-3310) and inquire whether this issue can be certified as a proof. You can also post the inquiry on the "Ask NGC/NCS" forum.
    For world coins, especially noncirculating ones like the second and third coins, it is often difficult to determine which side was intended to be the obverse and which the reverse. Usually, the side with a portrait is considered to be the obverse. It is unlikely that NGC would consider this an error, mechanical or otherwise.

I have been posting on CT for about 16 years and have a good understanding of the rules there. Actually the rules there are much like the rules here and over on CU. This is a short list of things that get folks in trouble.
Lets say you have an account there and forget your password. Some think they can just start fresh with a new user name. That's a big no no and can get you banned for life.
Lets say you get in trouble on CT over the rules. They may just give you a vacation for a while. I'll call that a cooling off period. Some that are put on vacation think they can just get back on with a new user name. That don't work and is also a big no no.
Many that get banned never stop trying to get back on the site with a new user name. CT is really good at catching that.
Lets say you are already a member and someone in your household would also like to post on CT. You would need to contact Doug or a mod. and work that out before ever trying to create a new account. This situation can be a tough call for the mods. Sometime back there was a father and son with different user names. The father got banned but just kept using the sons account. I believe both members were banned for life.
The owner of CT is well known in the hobby and has been for many years. He once sold his coin collection just to keep the site up and running. Doug is the admin. and runs the site for the owner. They both have awesome computer skills that keep the site safe. They were both on the internet from it's start. Very little get's past them and they don't put up with those that try.
Most that come here to complain about CT don't share the complete story of why they are having problems on CT.