Should I be worry of the smell of acetone?

My coin of Basil the Macedonian smells of acetone. It smelled heavily of acetone when I received it, but now some few days later the smell is decreasing. I do not know whether my nose now is used to the smell now or whether it is because the smell really has decreased.

In any case it does smell like acetone.

Should I be worry for the condition of the coin? Should I soak it in water or distilled water? or should I just leave it?



In photo it seems like it is brown/black. In hand it is brigther, and has a contrast of green and brown not depicted in the photo.

 

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Acetone is very volatile and if it was pure, any odor would be gone in a very short time. Even if the coin was much more porous than it appears, hidden acetone would be gone in the time you mentioned. It sounds as if you received it from someone else, so I might guess they used something such as acetone based fingernail polish remover, and you are smelling the residue. A way off thought is that when you bring the coin close to smell, you might be smelling some acetone smell from your breath. That is common is some metabolic defects such as diabetes, or liver damage, but you could have some else smell it away from you to eliminate that. I would still bet on the 'perfumed acetone ' nail polish remover. I would rinse with pure acetone a few times and let air dry. Interesting question !

 

Where did you buy it from - ever think of asking the seller? Of course I'm sure they won't know what you are talking about but maybe they will give you an answer and you can go from there!!

 

That coin needs a soak and not acetone as it has no effect on green colored corroded metal. Put some olive oil in a dish and throw it in face down. The olive oil will become poison so put the dish where no one can touch it. I use a small screw lid jelly jar. That's one treatment the old time ancient collectors did. Treatments have progressed since then. See how you like this one.

 

And an interesting answer by you old friend........

 

If its a blue Ball jar I'll buy it - If my memory does not fail me they were made in the early 30's from the sand around lake Michigan. Then Ball ran out of the sand and started using any sand they could purchase resulting in clear glass!

 

Not for sale... I've got a dozen or so types (both colors) from small to large in storage, completely forgotten until you posted this!

I never new the story behind the color.

 

Well get them out, clean, and display - IF you have a gallon jar you got an extreme collectible!!

 

That is a really nice coin, I don't care how it smells!

John

 

Here's an article about blue Ball mason jars: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/ball-blue-and-the-hoosier-slide/

 

One caveat, I have read that olive oil will give a darker tone to copper coins. Distilled water would be good if it were acetone since water and acetone are miscible (dissolve in each other).

 

I only use it on Ancients and perhaps the darker appearance (if it happens) comes from the oil soaked into the surface. That can be removed with heat.

 

Dang...first you're soaking it in olive oil, now you're heating it up...do you use Moss...Moza...Italian cheese on it???

 

Nope, After my wife moved in, she slowly sent all my collectibles on display into storage and put modern crap like dishes in the cabinets...

 

I did not read that he was trying to change the coin by using acetone, I interpreted his question more as how to get rid of the acetone smell. Good luck Herberto, but I would keep the oil in the kitchen.

 

I could make that corroded ancient more attractive that it is already and it isn't by making a pizza or using olive oil!

As I read it, that is exactly what the poster asked and you answered his question. So I blew past your answer to his question as I hoped he would try to conserve the coin and get rid of the green (and the smell) with an olive oil soak. Then the coin would just smell like a pizza . Heat or acetone would get rid of the oil when the final stage was reached.

 

Not sure olive oil would get rid of the green.

 

It depends on the olive oil. Some of it is quite acidic and will readily start remove the green and make the coin (Lincolns, anyway) look like they have been acid washed eventually. I am told that some olive oil will not do that at least without prolonged exposure.

 

If one insists on oiling coins, coconut oil might be the best as it is refined to remove most of the free fatty acids, which causes rancidification ( acid products) for up to 6 months@ room temperature, but we are back to the taco sauce stories.

 

FWIW, a renowned dealer actually recommended using olive oil to remove some corrosion. I tried it on another coin. The next day it was the dreaded pink in color, but most of the junk was gone.