Removing PVC - I could use some advice

Greig

I purchased a raw Caps and Rays 8 reales on Ebay a while back and noticed it has a minor amount of PVC contamination. Not too bad, so I decided to keep the coin, try to take the PVC off with acetone, then send it to our hosts for grading. I put it into acetone for about 20 minutes, then rinsed it with water and let it air dry. It looked good, so off it went to Newport Beach. As you may now be guessing, it came back from PCGS as having PVC, so what I did was insufficient.

So, my question to the forum is this: is there a recommended period of time to keep a coin in acetone to be reasonably certain that PVC is fully removed? Is it possible to leave it in too long (and if so, how long is "too long"?) I assume I should avoid doing any wiping of the coin, to avoid creating hairlines (or worse).

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated, as I intend to try again, but would like to make sure I do it right this time.

Thanks.

Bjorn

I've heard some people recommend soaking it several days in a sealed glass container for really bad contamination, and perhaps even switching the acetone and container several times during the soak. Also, make sure to rinse off the acetone with distilled water, not tap water if you use it on copper/bronze coins in the future - I had several get bronze disease from tap water!

--Bjorn

7Jaguars

Acetone is definately the right move but I also "tamp" it with a clean white high nap towel - no rubbing allowed!
Must use fresh acetone and change it as has been said.

olmanjon

Acetone will take off surface contamination like your talking about , but it will not take off vertigris which is corrosion that has raised the surface metal above the surface of the coin. Acetone will take off dirt, varnish and shellac. Not enviromental(sp) damage. Sorry.
Olmanjon

7Jaguars

Good pictures would help....

Greig

Thanks to all for suggestions - I will give them a try.