How To Remove PVC Damage From Coins Using Acetone
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- čas přidán 20. 01. 2013
- In this video I demonstrate a couple of ways to remove PVC damage from coins using Acetone.
The two coins cleaned in this video are the first two I have ever cleaned for PVC damage so they are the guinea pigs of my coin collection. Fortunately, most of my coins do not have PVC damage on them.
Extreme care must be taken not to ruin the value of the coins being cleaned. It is advised not to clean a coin if you don't want to risk ruining the value so if you are worried then play it safe. Do so at your own risk. Grading companies are becoming stricter at assigning grades on coins that have been treated for PVC damage.
As I show in the video, if a coin is a clean, uncirculated, coin without any toning, it can be dipped into the Acetone to remove the PVC from it's surface. If the coin is toned, or circulated and has a nice patina on it, the Acetone will clean it off and it won't look as nice so using the cotton swab method would be safer to implement. - Jak na to + styl
From what I understand, you should only get 100% pure acetone from hardware stores, not nail polish remover as it has other chemicals in it.
Good video, few tips:
1. You should not use the nail polish remover, it has other chemicals in in. 100% pure acetone should be used
2. Plastic cotton swabs should be avoided. Acetone will dissolve them and deposit more plastic on the coin. Wooden swabs should be used.
3. Rinsing in Distilled water is recommended
4. Do not touch the coin with hands, you will deposit the oils which will further damage the coin.
If you soak a coin in acetone, rinse it with fresh acetone immediately, don't give the acetone it was soaking in time to evaporate or the dissolved contaminants may re-deposit. Once it has been rinsed with fresh acetone, just let it air dry. Acetone will evaporate completely, leaving no residue, as long as there are no contaminants dissolved in it.
Clarify - Great Advice, however it does not have to come from the Hardware Store. I have used 100% Acetone for years to clean silver coins. Acetone cannot interact with the silver itself. Many are the times I have put silver coins into pure acetone. Sometime I have left them overnight. Acetone cannot interact with the metal of the coin and removes anything organic without any damage to silver coins.
Pure or 100% clear acetone is inexpensive in Family Dollar, Walmart's beauty department in the area with with fingernail polish remover. Only get the one labeled as 100% acetone. Regular fingernail polish remover that's not labeled 100 % can also have additives like (pink) coloring and fragrance - and these might have adverse effects on the coin.
I've found Acetone is also good for unclogging those spray nozzles on cans of spray paint or spray cans of fish oil. I've been doing it for years now and haven't had the acetone damage any of the plastic nozzles that I know of. Also helps to use an air compressor blow gun to blow out the residue. But the acetone really softens it up.
Shouldn't the title say "Remove PVC" and not "remove PVC damage?" Once the damage is done there is no way to undo it.
My local coin story sells non-pvc flips, but if you buy a coin from them they always put it in a PVC flip and don't say a word about it being damaging. My guess is they bought a bunch of the PVC ones a long time ago and trying to one day use them up.... or they are selling coins they hope you leave in their "go home flips" so it can damage the coin and you'll sell it back to them where they clean it and resell it for more. I dunno.
Acetone is a wonderful solvent. I used it to successfully remove a 14k medal from a block of Lucite without damage to the medal.
A coin dealer told me that paint thinner is safe for removing contaminants from rare coins. Is this true? Other people online tell me that paint thinner may leave an oily residue on coins.
Thanks. Nice video and information
Will this also work on nickels and would it be safe? Will this remove dried-up old tape from nickels? I found a 1940s Jefferson nickel in a roll of coins that may but it has a piece of tape on it that is dried-up and hard as a rock and I can't get it off. It is 1940s nickel but it is really nicely struck and other than the tape looks like it is in great condition.
It should but you can try it on a couple inexpensive ones to see before trying it on better dates.
Can it use acetone after nickel plating in that time?
Thanks some good information
Can acetone be used on gold??
Good video thanx,maybe this is a stupid question but how do you tell the difference between pvc damage and corrosion? I was told Acetone won't remove corrosion
PVC damage has a distinctive shade of green which appears to "coat" the surface, unlike verdigras. The best thing to do is to do an online image search for both coins with PVC damage and coins with verdigras to compare the differences between the two..
Don't you leave water spots on the coin when the liquid dries? How do you go about drying without leaving evaporation spots?
+Tone Capone Lightly dab it on a soft cloth. Also, if you use pure acetone the acetone will evaporate without marks.
Acetone is inert to silver (NEVER USE ACETONE ON COPPER. EVER.) and acts as a natural desiccant to remove water. Acetone also has an extremely low vaporizing point, it'll dry. Even if some acetone is left it won't harm it.
( QUESTION )…..I FOUND A HANDFULL OF SILVER COINS WHEN METAL DETECTING ALL WERE ON TOP OF EACH OTHER IN A HOLE BUT WHERE THE COINS WERE TOUCHING EACH OTHER SOME PARTS OF THE COINS HAVE GON GREEN ….QUESTION IS WOULD THE ASETONE REMOVE THIS KIND OF GREEN COLOUR FROM THE SILVER COINS ….MANY THANKS ..
I doubt it would remove verdigris, but you can try.
Using tweezers will scratch your coin.
How do you know the toned 1881S dollar hasn't been artificially toned?
It has since been sent off to PCGS and came back as an MS-66.
I saw there is something that is oil based that works well- it's called MS70 I believe.
Can you use lemon juice or vinegar? Or would that strip the original mint luster? I think I'll try the acetone on a silver quarter and see how it turns out.
They are acids.... duh!
Have you ever submitted coins cleaned this way to a grading company?
I haven't but my understanding is that if a coin has been cleaned lightly with acetone they may accept it. Cleaning too many times however will likely have the coin graded as genuine. It also depends on how corroded the coin is. If the corrosion is apparent under magnification, then the graders will likely grade it as genuine only.
So all soft flips contain PVC? And all stiff ones contain no PVC?
PVC is used to soften the plastic in the flips but there is no guarantee that a stiff one won't have any PVC in it or a soft one has. The thing is that unless the manufacturer indicates then you may not know for sure. Perhaps they will discover a different chemical to use to soften the flips. They do make some flips which are deemed safe and are the recommended ones to put the coins in if submitting to a grading service.
Comment directed at video maker. Not the viewers.Ham-
Just buy the Mylar 2" x 2" Flips and replace them every couple of years. The end.They cost like $2 dollars for 200? Don't cut corners when it comes to your coins. People aren't stupid and there is no cheating people who deal in coins. They can spot a cleaned coin like you see the sky is blue. If they are PVC damaged there isn't anything you can do to fix it and basically you have junk silver. Never polish your coins*SMH*
Ahhh you can't go back in time if the damage was from a flip say 40 years ago. I don't think this guy clarified the issue very well
you talk too much
Do not clean any coin this guy is full of crap saying cleaning a coin. Cleaning a coin just damages it further
Did you not watch the video? You're not cleaning a coin but preventing further corrosion induced from the pvc cointaining flips. This is an acceptable way of conservation.