Question: I'm treating a coin with acetone and...

[pendragon1998]

I recently bought a 1893 Columbian Half in XF or so. It arrived and I thought I noticed a little PVC damage so I figured this would be an excellent opportunity to learn how to remove PVC on a pretty cheap coin.

 

I went out and bought a pint of Acetone at Wal-mart and a $1 glass sundae glass which is perfect for suspending the coin off the bottom of the dish while soaking in acetone.

 

I've been at it for about an hour, changing the acetone every 20 minutes or so. The acetone is going in clear and coming out yellowish. Should I just keep repeating until the acetone comes out clear? I'm doing a little swirling, but mostly it's sitting in an aluminum-foil covered container on the back porch. Any thoughts?

 

I'm planning on hitting the half below if I like the results on the Columbian. Will the acetone change the appearance much, you think?

 

[TomB]

The acetone may also be taking off some loosely held debris from the Columbian half. If the WLH has PVC on it, and that PVC is in direct contact with the metal, then you might end up with a fairly attractive, fairly original looking coin over 90% of the coin's surface that surrounds some light, untoned spots. Just something to keep in mind.

[pendragon1998]

So the yellow coloring in the acetone is more likely from debris rather than dissolving PVC?

 

As for the WLH, I'm primarily concerned about continuing damage to the coin from any PVC. What I'm seeing runs from 12 o'clock to 6 on the obverse and about 11 to 5 on the reverse. I'm sure I'll have the coin for years to come, so I suppose if it does end up being lighter in those areas, I can plan on it re-toning over a few years or so.

[TomB]

I've never had acetone turn yellow, although it is typical to turn light green, which might appear yellow under certain lighting conditions.

 

It's easy to see the areas you are writing about on the WLH, but I'm just writing that if you remove that layer you might not like what you reveal.

[robertpr-migration]

The color change is normal and you should not have to worry about changing it at all.

 

I wouldn't recommend anything that can be bought at Wal-Mart, especially chemicals. Heh.

 

More acetone information

[James_OldeTowne]

You'll want to keep up the effort until the actone rinses clean.

 

James