Had a mostly red, red/brown IHC turn violet on me......

[bigd5]

Bought the coin raw. Was on the fringe of full red, but I figured a red/brown designation and a grade of ms/64. Put a touch of acetone on the coin (pvc bodybag nightmares) and the coin turned violet in color.

 

Now, I've done acetone on unc. copper literally hundreds of times before, and never had this happen.

 

My question is does anyone know what someone may have treated this IHC with prior to me rinsing it with acetone to cause the violet color?

 

I'm more curious than anything else.

 

Maybe I'll ask NCS.

[TomB]

I have read other's experience with acetone on copper in that it sometimes changes the color, but this has never happened to me, either. The first thing that I thought of was that there may have been something already on the surface that reacted with the acetone, or that when removed allowed you to see something else.

[bigd5]

Tom, I'm fully convinced there was something on the coin before the acetone hit it. I've put acetone on MANY IHC's before this, without any reaction.

 

All it takes is a few mystery pvc bodybags, and you get a touch paranoid about those.

 

The coin is still good. I light lilac irridescence to it, but there was definitely an abnormal reaction.

[nwcs]

I also tend to believe it was not caused by the acetone itself. Although the acetone may have had a chemical reaction with something on the coin. How deep a violet?

[Hoot]

Hi Darin - Here's a stab in the dark... I've acetone dipped large cents that have been "Blue Ribboned." They have come out looking wholly different than they did before the dip and have shown up with colors from orange to red (not Mint red), and fugly dull brown. Never had one turn blue or pruple, but it does not seem out of the realm of possibility. Just a guess that the coin you purchased may have had the natural surfaces masked with a Blue Ribbon coating.

 

Hoot

[truthteller]

Hoot is 100% correct. When you place acetone on Blue Ribbon coated copper coins, you will get purple to violet in color. A copper coin with Blue Ribbon will appear to be "glossy" or chocolate color, so be careful.

 

 

 

TRUTH

[bigd5]

The Blue Ribbon scenario certainly seems plausible, but I think I would have run into this situation a long time ago, as that product is frequently used and I have used it myself.

 

I'm thinking some sort of acidic dip may have been used on the coin. Darn though. It sure did looks nice and unmessed with.

[bigd5]

Truthteller, the coin was a fully lustrous, mostly red IHC. It wasn't a brown coin. Interesting though. I've heard of copper that has been left in Blue Ribbon for extended periods of time turning colors (not good colors), but never the "reaction" I experienced.

 

I'll go with what you guys had to offer and appreciate the info. I'm just surprised I haven't had this happen long ago.

 

Thanks all.

[truthteller]

In addition, olive oil coated copper tends to give "funky" colors when left on too long. Olive oil was the coating of choice years ago.

 

 

TRUTH

[Prethen]

Boy, I hope there's some sort of conclusive discovery out of this. I'm guilty of using all of the above on occassion, Blue Ribbon, MS70, olive oil, acetone, and mineral spirits. Not all at the same time though!

 

Luckily, I've had no bad experiences with anything on any type of metal....yet! I'm anxious to hear if there is truly a combination that's "lethal" to a coin.

 

Bruce

 

 

Truthteller, the coin was a fully lustrous, mostly red IHC. It wasn't a brown coin. Interesting though. I've heard of copper that has been left in Blue Ribbon for extended periods of time turning colors (not good colors), but never the "reaction" I experienced.

 

I'll go with what you guys had to offer and appreciate the info. I'm just surprised I haven't had this happen long ago.

 

Thanks all.

[kryptonitecomics]

What about iodine??? I wouldn't think the coin would look red if it was treated with iodine 1st...just throwing this out as a distant possibility?

[truthteller]

As a experiment, hours ago I used a mexican 1949 one centavo coin in RB UNC, coated it with Blue Ribbon, and placed a miniscule amount of acetone on the surface. The area that had acetone turned a medium blue/violet color. I used another 1945 centavo in BU which APPEARED to have some type of coating, and used acetone with similar, but not exact results. So the answer is

 

 

 

 

TRUTH

[jom]

I'd thought Blue Ribbon beer is better for drinking that it is using it on coins....but what do I know?

 

jom

[gmarguli]

I've used acetone on blue ribbon coated copper and never had it turn color.

 

I've used acetone and had it take off the color, but can't recall it adding color.

 

Best guess is that the coin may have had the violet tone hidden under something and the acetone removed it to reveal the color.

[BankNote1]

Windex maybe?