Green coins 0

[EBFliberty]

I have a 1872 Indian head one cent. It is all green how do I rinse or what do I use to rinse coin without devaluing the coin. And how can I keep coin from getting worse.

[Sandon]

   Welcome to the NGC chat board.

   Your coin, like many older copper coins, appears to be heavily corroded, meaning that exposure to chemicals in the environment, likely from being buried in the ground, has converted some of the copper and other elemental metals (tin and zinc) in this bronze coin into one or more chemical compounds. Unfortunately, it is impossible to reverse this process.  The use of chemicals or abrasives that might remove some of the corrosion would leave the coin with significant pits or scratches that would devalue it further. (The coin is a better date Indian cent with VF or XF details, but probably wouldn't be numerically graded even if the green corrosion and darkness could be removed due to the significant scratch beneath the eye.)

   The coin is likely stable, but any harmful surface residues could be removed by soaking the coin in pure acetone.  Another member of the forum, @Coinbuf, has explained how to do this as follows:

    " Let the coin sit for a while and every so often agitate the acetone by gently swirling the container.   If/once the acetone becomes green or murky change [it] out for a fresh bath of acetone, depending on how much PVC [or other residue] is present. It can take several baths to remove it all.   Once you feel confident that all the PVC [etc.] is removed place the coin on a paper towel. Acetone will completely evaporate so no need to do any drying or further washing."

   Note that acetone is highly flammable, so do not use it anywhere near an open flame or something hot and follow any other precautions on the container.

[Mike Meenderink]

Just leave it alone. Its better as an original coin. Its already been cleaned in the past. Its not worth much.