Alcohol or Acetone...or Either...as a Preventive Dip for a New Coin?
RichR
Posts: 3,870 ✭✭✭✭✭
What say you...?
Before I encase my 20 loose 2022S Maya Angelou quarters in a roll for the next 30 years, should I dip them in alcohol or acetone?
I acquired them loose from various sources...so I don't know if they've been fingered...so I want to prevent prints from appearing later.
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There’s no harm in using acetone. I’m not sure there would be much benefit at this point but it’s a fairly small investment of time for insurance.
Green Palmolive soap in a sealed container. Put them in and cover let them sit for 5 min pull them out and rinse with tap water pat dry with paper towel done. Will remove toning from coins so if you do not want to remove toning don’t use it on toned coins, Be safe every one.
Hoard the keys.
I think the best way would be to get a roll of fed rolled quarters from your bank (probably the best source of finger print free coins). The Maya P rolls are plentiful in my area.
(l8-)>>
Dawn detergent in warm water will clean grease, oil, grime, etc. No rubbing and thoroughly rinse and pat dry.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I would stick with acetone. It's a solvent that won't chemically react with the metal on the surface of the coin
I would be concerned with the various chemical cleaners, surfactants, fragrances, skin conditioners, etc. that are in dishwashing detergent. I doubt very much of it is going to be inert long term to cupronickel alloys. That means you have to be absolutely certain that all of the chemicals are completely rinsed and removed.
Why take the chance of leaving possible detrimental chemical residue on the coins. IMO, just skip the dishwashing detergent and the potential problems, and use the solvent that is known to be non reactive - acetone
You will likely do more damage by trying to "conserve" the quarters. You have to put them in acetone, then remove them and rinse, then pat dry with soft cotton. The more you handle the coins, the higher the risk of causing damage. It is just not worth it.
The compromise would be to examine your coins with a loupe and if you see any fingerprints or film on a coin, then carefully soak that particular coin in acetone.
Btw, the detergent idea is something to be avoided. They make MS70 for that type of situation, but it is a rare event that requires the use of MS70.
I rinse every coin going into my collection in acetone. If there are oil present from a finger or palm it will disappear. Then it goes into my collection. I absolutely believe every coin I get has been mis-handled before I got it. Just cautious and it's a cheap fix.
bob
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there's nothing like getting coins for cheap, or even real cheap but if you have a goal of keeping rolls for decades, it may be in your interest to check on roll prices from time to time and pick some up when they've cooled down and save yourself a lot of headache. nothing wrong with learning the conservation process. my 2c
if you choose to keep doing it from roll searching or whatever, i'd try to automate the process a bit more than a one by one. something like is done with an ultrasonic. get a tray and something it can fit in and put a bunch of coins in at once. be WELL ventilated and/or have a fan going whenever using chemicals and store them safely.
the advice above is good.
@RichR
FWIW. I saved rolls of state quarter that I got from my credit union when the were first issued. At the time, I took them out of the paper or plastic rolls (many came is plastic shrink wrap like material), and put the in coin tubes. No conservation, just right in the tube.
They've been in a box in the closet for 14-23 years with no noticeable toning or discoloration. Just sharing my experience. Don't know how yours will react to your storage environment
I would say a soak in acetone followed by a good rinse with a spray bottle filled with distilled water. Pat dry and store.
A rinse with acetone should be ok, and there really isn't a need to rinse with water or pat dry, the acetone will evaporate completely from the surface of the coin very quickly after you rinse.
That is not really how acetone works. If you have a coin with organic material on the surface (i.e sebum, PVC, whatever) and you soak it in pure acetone, it will certainly react and degrade the organic matter. However, that degraded, reduced material simply is redeposited on the surface of the coin.
You just dissolved the organic matter into smaller material and it resettles on the surface. You cannot see it, but it is there. That's why you must rinse with distilled water, then gently pat dry with a pure, soft cotton material (washed in only water), and then even hit with a quick blow dry. Let the coin sit for a day or two, and then reexamine before moving it to an archival holder (i.e. Saflip or mylar). Sometimes a second acetone soak is needed.
We only use acetone in special circumstances in order to stabilize and preserve a coin or medal. In the case of the OP's coins, I think that we are overthinking this a bit, but it is good for everyone to understand how acetone works with regard to coins. There are more conditions to coin conservation using acetone, but we can save that for another thread.
Yes, that is why I said rinse, and not soak
I usually use two acetone treatments... first a soak, then a rinse to eliminate any redeposits. On special coins (i.e. proofs etc.), I may follow the rinse with an alcohol rinse. In most cases, it is overkill, but I have not had any issues through the years. Cheers, RickO