Hi From A New Member 1 1

[EGH49]

 

Greetings to all from a Newbie.

First, thanks for sharing you knowledge and experience.  Your suggested resource list is very informative and reading your responses to questions lets me compare coins I have to those others inquire about.   I’m beginning to figure out what I have and, more importantly, what I don’t have - especially all those doubled dies that aren’t…

I have a modest collection, mostly of coins passed on to me by family members. Those are older circulated US coins and late 1700s to mid 1900s world coins.   I myself collected Kennedy Half Dollars, Bicentennial coins, a few small dollars and a jug of cents from circulation.   Over the years I’ve enjoyed looking at them but haven’t done more than put them in cardboard flips.   Now it’s time to evaluate and organize them so I can pass them on to my grandchildren.

I’m looking forward to sharing some coins with the forum but first I have a few questions about washing in acetone.  I’m a bit nervous about it so I have some very low value coins and super gunky LMCs to practice on.  I’ve read quite a bit but I’am unsure about the following,  your advice would be appreciated.  

1. Is there any certain coin or metal you would not put in acetone?  How about world coins?

    2. Can a glass container or a 1960s-80s metal coffee can be used?  Is it best to be  lidded or open to the air?

    3. I like the look of toning including the rainbow colors on many of my LMCs.   Will acetone take that away or dull the shine?

   4.  Can I soak several coins of the same denomination together?

Thanks for your help.

[JKK]

Don't clean your coins.

If you have any questions about that, don't clean your coins.

While you are thinking about and evaluating them, don't clean your coins.

Hope that's helpful.

[Coinbuf]

On 5/18/2024 at 10:05 AM, EGH49 said:

 

Greetings to all from a Newbie.

First, thanks for sharing you knowledge and experience.  Your suggested resource list is very informative and reading your responses to questions lets me compare coins I have to those others inquire about.   I’m beginning to figure out what I have and, more importantly, what I don’t have - especially all those doubled dies that aren’t…

I have a modest collection, mostly of coins passed on to me by family members. Those are older circulated US coins and late 1700s to mid 1900s world coins.   I myself collected Kennedy Half Dollars, Bicentennial coins, a few small dollars and a jug of cents from circulation.   Over the years I’ve enjoyed looking at them but haven’t done more than put them in cardboard flips.   Now it’s time to evaluate and organize them so I can pass them on to my grandchildren.

I’m looking forward to sharing some coins with the forum but first I have a few questions about washing in acetone.  I’m a bit nervous about it so I have some very low value coins and super gunky LMCs to practice on.  I’ve read quite a bit but I’am unsure about the following,  your advice would be appreciated.  

1. Is there any certain coin or metal you would not put in acetone?  How about world coins?

    2. Can a glass container or a 1960s-80s metal coffee can be used?  Is it best to be  lidded or open to the air?

    3. I like the look of toning including the rainbow colors on many of my LMCs.   Will acetone take that away or dull the shine?

   4.  Can I soak several coins of the same denomination together?

Thanks for your help.

Welcome to the forum, that is a very nice introduction.  As to your questions:

1) I have used acetone on almost every US coin with no issue, I do not collect world coins so I cannot provide any information on if there are any issues bathing any world coins in acetone or not.   It is best not to soak any coins in acetone for extended times unless the coin has a significant amount of PVC or gunk on it, a simple swish around in the acetone or a 10 min bath is enough to remove most surface contaminates.

2) Glass is best with a lid for a longer soak, acetone evaporates very quickly.

3) Not usually but it depends on the origin of the toning, remember that toning is the interference of light reflecting off the surface of the coin, if what you remove affects that effect then you could see some change.   Best to try this with your least favorite toned coin first.

4) While I suspect you can I don't usually myself, I use plastic coin tongs to hold the coin and simple swish the coin around in the acetone for 10 seconds or so, again only soaking if there is a substantial buildup of something.   And usually, I use two containers of acetone, one for the first rinse than a second to make sure that any surface contaminates did not redeposit onto the coin from the first rinse.   And it is important to change the acetone often if you are doing several coins to avoid having something from one coin redeposit onto another from the dirty acetone.

I do not consider the use of acetone as cleaning, but there are collectors and dealers who frown on its use.

[EGH49]

Thanks for the quick replies.  

JKK.  How do you really feel about cleaning coins? 

 I've read that admonition  so many times,  that's why I was so conflicted - just wanted some clarification.  Never fear.  I was only thinking of using the acetone on coins low on value but high on dirt like heavily traveled LMCs.  When I do, I will certainly follow Coinbuf's good tips.

Other than that I will not clean my coins. 

Thanks again.

[Sandon]

    Welcome to the NGC chat board.

    I'll add to what has already been said that acetone is a solvent that should remove surface dirt or contaminants from a coin's surface and is not considered "cleaning", which is a process that chemically or abrasively alters the coin's surface.  Be careful using acetone, as it is highly flammable.  As "toning" is formed by chemical compounds that have bonded with a coin's surface, a solvent such as acetone should not affect them.  If it does, what you saw wasn't toning.

[JKK]

On 5/18/2024 at 3:10 PM, EGH49 said:

Thanks for the quick replies.  

JKK.  How do you really feel about cleaning coins? 

 I've read that admonition  so many times,  that's why I was so conflicted - just wanted some clarification.  Never fear.  I was only thinking of using the acetone on coins low on value but high on dirt like heavily traveled LMCs.  When I do, I will certainly follow Coinbuf's good tips.

Other than that I will not clean my coins. 

Thanks again.

Good. I haven't yet read you describing a logical reason to clean them. Now, if they were covered in PVC slime, that would be a reason. If they were otherwise illegible, that would be a reason.

Please understand that we get waves of people coming here thinking that coins need to be "shinny" (most of them are semiliterate) and that if they're tarnished somehow, well, let's just shine 'em up a little. I do not, at start, know any differently about anyone whose first question entails cleaning, so the first step is to tell them not to f-bomb their coins up with cleaning. They can always f-bomb them up later once they know they are about to f-bomb them up and refuse to refrain from that, and there's nothing I can do to stop that. But we still try, and now and then we get someone's attention.

[RWB]

Acetone is an organic solvent. If something stuck to a coin is not organic, acetone will do nothing. Be sure to use ONLY pure USP acetone in a well ventilated place. Do not smoke, vape, light flares, or BBQ near the stuff.

Common "cleaning" alters the surface, and that can never be reversed.

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome!

Being you are seemingly new to the hobby and coins in general, my admonishing would be to never clean your coins. The process of cleaning coins typically involves some type of paste or abrasive or even just rubbing the coin under a stream of water with your fingers. Some terrible cleaning methods involve toothpaste, erasers, and sandpaper and completely ruin the coin surfaces and will negate all value of the coin down to face value or melt value in the case of silver or gold. Any of these processes are not something you should ever do. If you are just looking to improve the appearance of a coin, there is a service called NCS (Numismatic Conservation Services) which can be found on this website under the NCS tab. The processes used by this service do not alter or affect the original surface and are not a cleaning but rather a conservation of the coin by proprietary methods to remove harmful surface contaminants and stabilize the surface of a coin. None on here know what these methods are and their employees seemingly must be bound by a non disclosure as there is not any source of leak of information on how this is accomplished. Conservation can also remove PVC contamination in some cases if it has not progressed too far, and can make the coin look better by removing surface contaminants but is not a magic wand to make any coin look as if it was just minted. It also cannot restore the red color to copper.

My advice to you is to do that reading and research you mentioned, and get used to coins and the minting process as well as learning about different metals and the issues they have when it comes to contaminants, storage methods (improper and proper) and other coin surface issues like toning, "milk spots", and environmental damage before you break open any of your cardboard flips and start going down the road of "self conservation". You should be asking yourself why you need to use acetone as there are limited situations to begin with for its use. If you really need to help a coin's surface, you should think about having it conserved by professionals who can help remedy those issues without negatively affecting the grade of the coin. 

Toning, in and of itself, is not necessarily damage and while it may be something of eye appeal, keep in mind there are many coins with very high grades that have toning. If you want coins without it, and that have even, original surfaces, you should look to purchase such coins without toning, as while in some cases light toning can be removed, it will surely negatively impact the grade of the coin, even with proper conservation. 

[EGH49]

Thanks for your very thorough answers.  Having taught high school for 29 years I completely understand your frustration with giving advice.

I have always known not to rub, scrape or use abrasives on a coin and haven’t done that.   Never having heard of using acetone on coins, but seeing it recommended repeatedly on this and other sites, led to my questions.  No mass coin scrubbing was ever considered.

These are examples of coins I thought might benefit from a bath to see if the wires on Lincoln’s head and the dirt around the devices would come off.  I also have coins with glue and tape residue.   I think the black spots on Eisenhower are corrosion and from what I understand nothing can be done about that.

Thanks again!

 

[powermad5000]

Are the "wires" raised or incuse? It is hard to tell with my eyes from the photo. If they are not raised, it is just damage. Your 1940 looks to me as if it was already cleaned previously in its life as the color just looks "off" to me. I know LWCs can turn different colors from chocolate brown to tan due to the exact alloy mixture of the batch, but yours does not look even in color. You are correct on the Ike as those are spots of corrosion and there is no "fix" for those spots.

The acetone would be appropriate to use on those you stated that have tape or glue residue, but other than to help with those issues or with issues from improper handling such as skin oils or the beginning stages of PVC contamination, it is not useful for much more than that. It will not really lift off dirt or gunk especially from those hard to get at tiny spots in the coin's details. It might limitedly help with that ingrained gunk but I think you will find it may only slightly help with that. If acetone were a surefire restoration method, everybody would do it and we would have no dirty coins anywhere. Full copper coins are different from the thinly copper plated modern cents. I think you would find that acetone has a better "effect" with the plated ones as that plating is very thin and if intact protects the zinc core.

[EGH49]

Thanks.  Your explanation makes perfect sense.  No cure alls.

The wires ( not really sure what they are but it looks like wire)  seem to be on the surface and interestingly enough, seem to be the same color as the surface.  I'll attach a side view which I hope helps.   I very gently picked at it but nothing moved. It must be securely attached because it was in the middle of a large jug of coins. 

 

[powermad5000]

I will admit I am a little intrigued by the wires as it looks in the last photo that they are protruding out past the hair on the top of Abe's head as I see a shadow underneath. I wonder if they are from a soft wire brush possibly used to quickly clean the surface of the die??? I would not pick at them anymore.

Maybe post these same photos of it on the CONECA website and see if you can get any kind of answers on there. I'm not sure exactly what those are (I have no problem admitting I don't know everything). They seem to have the same color as the copper planchet and do not appear that they are glued to the surface somehow.