Learn how to clean STICKY coins that have GLUE, tape, or other ADHESIVE residue on them using ACETONE (nail polish remover).
RELATED VIDEO: How To Clean Coins WITHOUT DEVALUING Them
RELATED ARTICLE: Tips For CLEANING COINS SAFELY At Home
See exactly how to clean coins that are sticky in the safest way possible — without devaluing or damaging them! The trick is to clean sticky coins with acetone (nail polish remover).
Before you clean sticky coins from car, sofa, yard, or whatever watch this video FIRST and then read our helpful tips for cleaning coins safely at home yourself…
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⚡TIMESTAMPS FROM THE VIDEO⚡
00:00 How To Clean Coins That Are Sticky
00:12 Examples Of Sticky Coins
00:33 Water Won’t Clean Sticky Residue Off Coins
00:44 Two Coins With Adhesive Residue On Them
01:11 Acetone Is The ONLY Safe Way To Clean Sticky Coins
01:39 #1: Line A Plastic Cup With Tin Foil Inside
02:16 #2: Pour Acetone Into The Cup
02:28 #3: Dip Sticky Coins Into Acetone
02:47 #4: Tape Quickly Comes Off The Coin
03:06 #5: Why Acetone Works So Well On Sticky Coins
04:51 #6: Remove Coins From Acetone Bath
05:15 #7: Pour The Acetone In Cup Down The Sink Drain
05:56 #8: Place Coin On A Dry Napkin… See Any Residue?
06:42 #9: If Residue Remains, Re-Soak Coin In Acetone
07:12 #10: Once All Residue Is Gone, Rinse Coin In Water
08:30 Adhesive Will Be Harder To Remove When Coin Is Dry
09:20 SUMMARY: Best Way To Clean Sticky Coins w/o Damage
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hi everyone! This is Josh with The Fun Times Guide To Coins. Today we’re going to show you how to clean sticky coins.
Now, if you’re not really sure what a sticky coin is, think about this… How many times have you gotten in the mail a… like a flyer for some charity perhaps? Or an advertisement for some company? And the ad comes with a coin glued to like a postcard or a piece of cardstock. How many times have you gotten… Like I received recently a coin that has tape on it! Well the thing about cleaning coins like that is water doesn’t really always help in those situations. Because water, while it can wash off dirt and slough away loose debris and such from the surface of coins… A lot of times, adhesives leave residues on coins.
I’ve got here a coin that has some tape on it. And this one you probably can’t tell too well… It’s got some kind of a residue on there. See right there? See right there on the top of the shield? So I’m going to try. And there’s the tape on the wheat cent. That probably was something you might have seen from even afar. Maybe not. It’s hard to say here with the lighting. How do you clean those?
Well, there’s really just one safe way to clean coins that have residue on them or adhesives — and that is to use acetone. Now note here that I’ve got 100% acetone. This is not an acetone that has fragrance in it or dyes. Dyes and fragrances not only dilute the potency if you will of the acetone, but they can actually chemically alter the coins you try and clean and save. So we use 100% pure acetone. And I’ve got it already in here for you…You can see… Maybe you can’t… I’ll add some more just for at least to demonstrate there is acetone inside these 2 plastic cups. I’ve got 2 cups here. You might see shimmering here in the light. I’ve got 2 cups and I’ve got tin foil. Why is that? Acetone is so caustic that… (And I’ve learned this the hard way) That it can actually eat right through plastic cups. So I had to line my plastic cups with tin foil to prevent the acid from actually eating through the plastic cup while I’m demonstrating how to clean coins with acetone. I will add some more here – because it might have evaporated a little bit here. I got my arrangement set up here for you. I’m gonna go ahead and dip both of these coins with the tape and the sticky residue into the acetone. And the acetone should go ahead and remove the tape and the residue.
Now it will take a couple of minutes – because acetone, while it’s very fast to react… Oh my gosh, you can already see the tape coming up off of it! Like I said… No way! Look at that! That is awesome. And I’m going to believe that the residue on the back of the more modern Lincoln cent there with the Union Shield reverse is also getting cleaned as we speak. The acetone will basically dissolve the residue. Water really can’t do that. Yes, water can over time. It’s nature’s solvent. It’ll eat away almost anything. But I don’t want to wait 10 days or 20 days or whatever for the water to eat through the residue.
Acetone and water really are your 2 safest agents for cleaning coins. And both have their benefits. Obviously, water is generally available… widely available… for those of us in many nations. And acetone, while you have to go to a store usually to buy it (unless you already have it in your cupboard somewhere). Generally, it’s inexpensive. And while it is caustic… And I will tell you also… acetone is very poisonous and flammable. And you really should not be using it in spaces where you don’t have ventilation. I’ve got ventilation here. You don’t want to leave it on your skin for too long.
I know it says Nail Polish Remover, and therefore you’re thinking, “Oh it can go on your body.” Yes, it might be designed to remove nail polish, but you don’t want to expose your bare skin to it for a long period of time. So really, I’m going to do what I can to avoid touching this acetone when I remove these coins out of the cups. I don’t know yet if we have fully seen the acetone dissolve the residues.
Although the Lincoln cent might have been cleaned by now. I’m going to think that the one cent (ha, the one cent… the Union cent… the Union Shield cent) also probably is in better shape now than it was a minute ago with the residue on there. But basically, leaving your coins (sticky coins) in a bath of acetone will help to remove the adhesive. So let’s go ahead and see.
It’s been a couple of minutes now. Let’s go ahead and remove these coins from the acetone bath, and let’s see how well we did with this. I think I see the tape still on the Lincoln cent. But it should (with the aid of water now, because the acetone has eaten away at the residue and adhesive) it should rub right off. Let’s go ahead… I’m going to dump this acetone down the drain. And note… I did pull the stopper up but it’s not quite all the way up. And that will allow for the acetone to drip down the drain without the coins going down there. Let’s see…
Alright, we’re draining the acetone out of the cup… We’ll try not to drip the coins (drop the coins rather) into the sink. Let’s see, how are we doing? Yeah, we’re doing alright. Okay. I think we’re mostly… we’ve drained most of this acid out of here. So I’m gonna go ahead and drop these coins onto this napkin. And we’ll get this cup out of the way too. Let’s see how we did. So, it looks like the residue has been removed from the Lincoln cent. (The Shield cent.) I don’t see any signs of the residue on there anymore. I’m not so sure if that residue discolored the reverse (or the tail’s side of this coin). It’s hard to say. I’m gonna rinse this off in a minute. But at least the residue is gone.
Let’s see… Okay, you can see where the tape was. Let’s see…That’s sticky. Hmm. Well, in this case… Okay, so the tape is gone. (It’s been there for a long time it looks like.) But the residue is still on there a little bit. So, here’s what I’m gonna do with that. I’m gonna put it back in the bath. And I’ll let the acetone do its thing for a little bit longer. Let it just sit there for a few minutes longer. In the meantime, let me rinse off this Lincoln cent. This residue… because that one definitely came clean.
This is no longer a sticky coin. Yeah, it looks pretty good to me. Let’s go ahead and revisit this wheat cent here which seems to have some pretty stalwart adhesive, if you ask me! What I’m gonna do this time is… When I pulled this cent out before, it sort of sat out for a minute or so – at least a few moments in the air. And that might have actually reset the adhesive. Let me try to just remove it quickly, and then rub off what I can. Alright, there we go. Take it out of the bath. Oh yeah! Okay now… hang on a minute. Rub it softly… Under running water… And I can feel the adhesive (the tape) rolling off my fingers here. So I think this time was a success.
Oh yeah! Now it’s coming off now. There’s still a little bit there, but it’s coming off. I think what I did was I let the coins sit out a little too long, and the adhesive that was coming off actually set back up again. Let’s see how we did… Okay, yeah. It’s coming off! It’s coming off. There’s still a little bit on the bottom there. But it’s coming off. So, if we go ahead and I dip this back in the acetone again… Just a little bit longer to get the last bit of residue off there.
But it DEFINITELY worked. As it usually does when I’ve used acetone before to clean off glues and tapes and such. So, I think you can see that acetone really is an effective and safe means for cleaning sticky coins. As you’ll note, the acetone is not really lightening the coins at all! Yes, this coin was already bright before we put it in the acetone. And you can see there… Oh, see… Look at that. That’s some of the residue coming right off the coin! Isn’t that something? It’s kind of gross looking, I know. But that’s how well it works.
It didn’t change the patina. Or, in this case, the luster at all. Because this is a bright shiny uncirculated 2022 Lincoln cent from this year. The year of taping here is 2022. So it’s a brand new coin – probably glued to a postcard or something. It had that residue on the back. It was all… Let’s see… one more chance! The third time might be the charm at getting the last bit of this acetone out. Get rid of some of that water in there. Okay, there we go. Now, the stopper’s back up just for a little bit. I’m gonna get this penny out of here. Out of the acetone. Let’s put it on the napkin. And get it off. (That’s why the drain goes up!) And let’s go ahead and get the last of this residue off this coin. And this time… Yep, a little bit right there.
I think we have a winner! Look at that! It took us a few tries, but we did it. Look at that! Good as new. Or… good as well, about 71 years old. But there you go. You see, acetone is FANTASTIC for cleaning sticky coins. I will go ahead and pat dry these 2 coins to get all the water and any remnant residue off. Although I can tell with my fingers that both coins were completely cleaned of the residue. I’m going to pat dry, not rub. Because rubbing with fabric like this can actually impart hairlines on the coins and create more damage than you want – and kind of counter effect cleaning coins safely as I’m doing here with acetone. Yep, this coin… Well, it must be some fabric on there or residue or whatever… But you can see, yes. You can see that the ’51 Lincoln wheat cent is clean. That’s just water on there. As is the 2022 Shield cent.
And that is how you clean sticky coins. I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, please like and share or comment. And have a wonderful day!
