Corrosion #2. 1 1

[Hoghead515]

First off I would like to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING  my friends. Now I would like to say that I gave my little 3 cent silver an acetone bath. I let it sit in it for approximately 30 minutes. It removed all the gunk that was around the edges and uncovered more tiny green spots. They are very small and very hard to see. It also didn't take away the other green spots. So I am going to give it another bath before I try the olive oil trick. This time I was gonna soak it for a few hours. Before I do it tho, I was gonna ask, can you over do it on an acetone dunk. Is it harmful to leave it in for extended periods of time.   Here is an after the dunk pic. It hard to tell much about it but here it is. Thank you so much my friends for all the helpful information. 

[RWB]

How about before and after photos, at the same scale so we can see the differences?

[Hoghead515]

[Hoghead515]

The first picture is before and second is after 

[Hoghead515]

That second picture seems awful blurry. Ill try get a better one 

[Hoghead515]

[bsshog40]

Acetone is basically a metal cleaner. It doesn't contain ingredients that eat metal. Soaking it longer will not hurt the coin. The green pvc spots that you see are going to be a task for acetone. You can try it though. 

[Coinbuf]

You can let it soak for as long as you want it has no effect on the coin itself.  I have a pair of plastic tongs that I can hold the coin by the sides with and then gently move the coin side to side in the acetone to help agitate and loosen any organic matter.  Give it another hour soak then run warm water over the coin to wash off the material that the acetone has loosened, rinse and repeat as many times as needed.  Remember to dry off the coin between each cycle with a soft cloth, patting dry not rubbing.  After the last cycle use new clean acetone and just a quick dip of the coin and air dry.

[RWB]

Your 1853 3-cent silver is 25% copper compared to the standard US alloy of 10% copper 90% silver. It is likely the green/cyan color spots are largely copper sulfate and not PVC. I don't recall anything that will dissolve CuSO4 without damaging the coin. (Exposure to sulfuric acid is the most common cause of these green/cyan spots. The acid can come from paper and dozens of other common sources.)

Edited November 26, 2020 by RWB
Fix formatting - as usual

[Hoghead515]

Thank you very much to all of you all. I really appreciate it. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving 

[Conder101]

 

18 hours ago, RWB said:

I don't recall anything that will dissolve CuSO4 without damaging the coin.

Copper sulfate is water soluble.

[RWB]

3 hours ago, Conder101 said:

 

Copper sulfate is water soluble.

True. The complex on the OP's coin could be more than just copper sulfate. We'll see what happens if it gets washed in water.

[Hoghead515]

Thank you my friends. Im curious now to try it. Do I give a good soak. Also if I do for how long. Or is there any use of even trying.