Has Anyone Used ANACS Conservation Service?

Whomever you choose, make sure you are not paying "out" more than the coin will bring "in".
John1

Not sure if you are talking about conservation, or just slabbing. If just slabbing, I've used them a few times, and they are fine. I sent some coins to PCGS back in the 80s just for fun. Enjoy.

I've only once, in 2019, sent coins into ANACS. I did select the conservation option to avoid any potential "we won't grade this coin because it has something wrong with it, e.g., PVC residue, that conservation would have remedied" problems. Back in 2019, conservation was only $29 for up to 20 coins so it seemed like a good insurance policy to avoid any potential issues.

I sent in 19 Morgan dollars and ANACS conserved 6 of them. After conservation, the coins they conserved definitely looked brighter, i.e., more blast white, than when I sent them in. They also removed some rim toning on a couple of coins that I guess they considered unattractive as well.

ANACS doesn't tell you why or why not they choose to conserve a coin, but they do tell you if a coin was "conserved". If in their opinion their conservation techniques will enhance the coins eye appeal then, as long as you've paid for conservation, they'll conserve it.

Thanks for the replies, I think I'll go for it. They'll have to go into flips for grading anyway so I'll take "before" images and see. Yes, the other two TPGs charge a % of the value and not only is that way expensive, it makes me suspicious of their decision making. If my 1948 $1 grades MS63 at NGC it would cost 4% and $120 for that one coin.

Thanks for the input @SaturnD51. I'll be taking the plunge Saturday unless something makes me decide to back out. I got a little queasy this evening, taking them out of the 2x2s for the flips required for submission. While I've removed a few for images in the past, some have not been touched for 50 years, and have never left my possession. The return shipping scares me a bit; I'd much rather have the coins than any insurance money. I see 7 or 8 with some cloudiness out of 20 that might be candidates for the conservation.

I submitted 16 coins on 12/03/22. The submission was finally updated 01/18/23. 9 of the 16 coins are designated "This coin was selected for conservation services." So they did something to most of them.

01/13/23 I had gotten a call from Paul at ANACS for my permission to conserve the 1947 50c CR Maple Leaf, specimen. They thought it might have a coating of lacquer. PCGS had given this coin UNC Details - Cleaned. I had disagreed with that designation for several years. Paul said conserving it would likely result in a straight grade, but if it didn't go well, cleaned again. I figured why not, since it had already been designated cleaned. Of course this made me nervous about ruining the coin. The 01/18/23 update showed it got SP62. I was very happy with that.

Most of grandfather's raw coins got MS62 or MS63. A reminder that these are all Canadian. I selected the group in order to get 1947 ML, 1948, and 1949 denominations slabbed together. The disappointments were a 1949 25c that got UNC Details Scratched, and a 1931 5c (the oddball) that got AU58. I thought the latter would be MS63-64.

Anyway, figured I'd update the thread. The coins still haven't shipped, but I'm guessing it's because I wanted them all photographed. One thing makes me curious - they chose to conserve the 48 $1, but not the 47 ML $1. I thought the 47 looked more grungy. When the coins finally arrive, I will see if I can tell what the conservation did for them, and post an update again.

Sorry, yes, the 1947 50c CR Maple Leaf received SP62 after the lacquer was removed. I'm quite happy with that result, although once it straight graded I feel that it should have graded higher. The 1947 ML $1 mentioned above to me clearly looks like they conserved it, despite not indicating on their order details that they did. I suspect a data entry oversight.

One of the more remarkable results I updated in this thread. The milky white spots are gone and it looks straight from the mint. http://goccf.com/t/163668&whichpage=2
I also updated my really old thread on the 1948 $1. http://goccf.com/t/161900&whichpage=2

Overall the coins all look amazing. They did not touch either of the two nickels submitted - perhaps they don't do nickel composition? There wasn't really anything wrong with those anyway. On the downside, I'd say some of the original "character" is gone, they're all blast white, although they pretty much were to begin with. Perhaps some of the "character" wasn't toning at all? They claim that what they do doesn't effect toning. Whatever it is, it did not negatively impact the surfaces, there are tiny die lines clearly visible now that I'd never noticed before. I've used those to ID specimen dies that were reused for production, threads for which are in the Canadian main forum. I would also say that ANACS grading was pretty conservative after the conservation, several of them I would have graded 1-2 points higher. All my half dollars got MS63 and I think another TPG might give 64s on them. At least one of the few already slabbed got upgraded - 1946 $1 went from ICCS MS60 to MS62, but I figured it would. I was very disappointed in the images and would not pay for that service again.

With the holidays and the extra delicate work on the 1947 50c SP, it took a while, but it was a good experience overall.

Please let us know the results! As I said above, mine look fresh from the mint, but some of the "personality" is gone. I think mostly it was being so used to the way they looked before. I'd try to find ~10 more coins though.