New Member, and Putty
Billk9989
Posts: 27 ✭
Hi everybody, new member here.
I put coins away in the mid-1970s. Am now old and need to dispose of them. I began as an investor, buying common gold and silver, the silver being mostly Franklin BU rolls. Over time I lost interest in the investing part and became interested in collecting, and put away a number of nice type coins; I fell in love with the darned things. I went dormant 40 years ago - young kids - and the coins have been in a box at the bank since.
Getting back, the first thing I learned is that you need to get your nice coins graded. I don’t know how long this has been going on, but it’s a great thing. The dealer-customer relationship was asymmetrical when I was buying. Now there is a third party, hence a level playing field. Thumbs up!
I joined PCGS and have gotten my first batch of coins back. Honestly, when I sent this batch in I wondered if I would ever see my coins, again. They go through the mail, then somebody at PCGS must open the package, log them in, transfer them to somebody who does the grades, then they get graded, then they go to a place where they are put in the slabs, then they get packaged up, then they go through the mail again. Now, what could go wrong with that?!
But come back they did. One of the coins, a Barber Quarter, came back “Genuine, Uncirculated, Altered Surface”. I thought that this would be a 65 level coin. I studied the coin closely, and it was at this point that I learned for the first time about “putty”. Sigh. I had no idea that such things happened or what to look for, back in the day. Now I see that I also have a Barber Half (got it from same dealer) and a really nice 1879-S Morgan (different dealer) that I thought might grade at least at 67 - putty.
I have now read about putty and see that acetone will remove it. I would like to try an acetone dip on one of the coins and see what happens. Could somebody please confirm the following for me:
100% acetone will not damage the coin in any way.
Acetone will not remove toning (the silver dollar has the start of attractive toning).
Thanks,
Bill
Comments
PCGS has a restoration service that you may wish to consider if the value of the coins merit it. Others here will be more knowledgeable about this.
Use 100% acetone and coin tongs. I use 3 different glass "bowls" of acetone. I soak (length depends on different factors), a second rinse, a third rinse, then air dry. Then I toss those out as I consider them contaminated.
Some people do a 4th step of distilled water then dry. Never pat dry.
To each their own though.
Confirmed.
Be aware, acetone will remove any organic toning, whether artificially applied or as a result of environmental contaminants. So surface oils and debris, which can sometimes give a circulated coin a nice respectable appearance, will be removed. Sometimes this can leave a coin looking dried-out, if you get my drift.
Sometimes the removal of environmental material can make flaws more prominent/noticeable. (Edit to add...the putty was applied for a reason.)
Lance.
My acetone rinse is always simple. I just put on gloves, pour acetone into a glass dish, put the coin in and swish it around. Then I’ll “rinse” it in a clean acetone dish, then let air dry which takes seconds. Done.
Acetone will only remove organic contaminants on the coin. It doesn’t alter silver or gold in any way shape or form. Totally safe.
Sorry about your experience from back then. Sadly it was a prevalent practice that TPGs have helped to reduce. Although now coin doctors find more insidious ways of cheating people.
Id practice on some cheap coins if you were worried about it.
Thanks all.
Confirmed, good, thanks. The toning on the Morgan is very light and iridescent. I’m thinking that this is tarnish and not organic material but I just don’t know.
Sending to PCGS. I know that this is an option and I’m perfectly willing if there is value-add. But what would they do that I can’t do by soaking the coin(s) into 100% acetone? I’m careful and capable of fine work and can easily follow the instructions you folks have given me, so my handling isn’t going to cause any problems. If PCGS does things in addition to an acetone soak then I should probably send all three coins to them.
I really don’t want to sell doctored coins to anybody, even if they are identified by the PCGS holder, so my choices are to somehow get the putty removed and deal with whatever is under the putty. Or display them on my fireplace mantle as an ongoing reminder that I’m not half as smart as I think. If my coins were your coins what would you do?
PCGS conservation can take many forms. Certainly acetone is one of their tools. But there are many others. And they are experts with vast experience.
PCGS is also discriminating. They won't attempt conservation if it is believed it wouldn't help (or might hurt). They won't conserve a coin to remove tarnish/toning if they believe the toning is attractive or otherwise beneficial.
There is a certain risk, however. Toning can be stripped away. The appearance of a conserved coin can be improved but it can also be lessened. A complaint heard here occasionally is that the conservation worked (the contamination was successfully removed, let's say) but the coin came back white.
If I were inexperienced at this I would try acetone because it is risk-free. But if it didn't do the job, and the coin's value was potentially high enough, I would consider professional conservation rather than trying harsher methods (like an acid dip or spot treatment).
Lance.
@Billk9989.... Welcome aboard. Sorry to hear about the puttied coins. You can remove it with acetone (will not harm the coins), however, it will expose the problems the putty was applied to hide... As long as you are OK with that, go ahead...either way, the coin is not what you hoped for. One downside, if you remove them from the slab, you lose your investment paid for the service. Cheers, RickO
To me it depends a little on the actual coins, their value, and what I think their value is to the collecting world. If the Morgan is a nice CC or a rare date/variety, maybe let the pros at PCGS do it. If the coins are all common, but just in high grade, maybe try it yourself. As far as not selling a problem coin goes, there are a few recent threads that discuss the market for them, and how others feel about purchasing such items. As long as you disclose what you know, and the buyer understands, there's no problem selling a coin in any condition or state.
So for me - probably if the coin is $400 or less, I'd try to dip it. Over that, let PCGS do it. That's the threshold in my head, for my skills and budget and knowledge. Yours could be totally different.
Ikeigwin, I’m going to do PCGS with the Barber quarter and half. Even in low BU condition they have value.
Ricko, Shaun, I tried 100% acetone on a BU Franklin half that has some spots. It didn’t take the spots off, but it did seem to leave the coin a bit duller, which bothers me. I just don’t know about trying on the Morgan dollar. It’s a common date, but it’s attractive and the fields are clean and tend toward PL. I’ll try to include a couple of pictures. They don’t begin to do it justice. It obviously came from a roll, as that’s where the light toning is, and the edges are quite black. It’s just a really attractive coin in real life. But it isn’t worth anything in low BU condition, so I’m tempted. See what you think. I don’t have the experience to make a good decision.
Shaun, I can’t find the threads you are talking about. What did you search on? I don’t like the idea of selling something isn’t right, but if there are knowing buyers maybe that’s a choice.
Here is an update on my putty situation:
I decided to soak my “before” pictured 1879-S Morgan, rather than send it in for restoration, to see what happens, since I was told here that there is no danger of ruining the coin. I put the coin and acetone in a covered glass container and let it soak for, as I recall, four days or so. It did dissolve the putty, as you can see in the “after” picture. I’m getting a pinkish cast to my coin pictures. It’s the “photographer”, not the coin. Coin has a normal silver color.
I have one other Morgan that I did this to, with similar results.
As I originally mentioned, I have a Barber quarter that came back from my first ever PCGS submission as “altered surface” - which is how I learned about putty. Also a Barber half, puttied. I am in the process of doing both of these, myself. My original plan was to send them in for restoration, but I think that I can get the job done fine with nothing more than an acetone soak, and that I will in the end coins that I can sell with a clear conscience rather than put into perpetual quarantine.
In summary, I got really good advice here. I had never used acetone on a coin. It worked and it caused no harm at all and it didn’t remove the toning. It’s just as I was told here. Thanks!!
Pictures: I took two “after” of the obverse, one to show as much as I can of what the putty was hiding and the other to show what a head-on view looks like, still a nice looking coin: