I bought a lot of uncleaned coins from a reputable dealer about 6 months ago. I set the coins out on a tray and selected a few of them to
work on mechanically. There was everything from crusties through to very nice coins with little dirt. Nothing unusual at all. I noticed no smell from these coins at this point.
Recently I soaked them in DW for a week and then removed them to give them a scrubbing and change the water. The entire tub smelled of acetone. It is hard to tell which coins the smell was from but it was especially strong on the
AE2 sized crusties. I
had noticed that many of the crusties did not have much dirt on them when I got them.
I can't figure out what someone would have done to any of them with acetone. I only know of acetone for stripping waxes and artificial patinas. It was clear that none of these coins were waxed or re-patinated and none looked like they
had been stripped. I
had handled each coin while dry at least half a dozen times in sorting them and then in figuring out which ones were candidates for various
types of mechanical cleaning.
Does anyone know of other uses for acetone? Have you ever heard of people soaking coins in it? Especially crusties??
It is no big deal for the coins themselves which will continue to soak in DW, I am just curious about someone would have done to them with acetone.
Shawn
