Ebay Auction Opinions - 1914 Dime

sgarten,my first thoughts were all that luster with XF details and then assuming the dealer was truthful in that it hadn't been whizzed or polished. You need good close ups to be sure or as I said...coin in hand...to be honest, I don't avoid dipped coins...just don't pay original prices...I even sold coins disclosed as cleaned and gotten really good money...my opinion on that : "To each his own"

Well I'll post pictures of it when I get it and see what you all think. The seller said that if I didn't like it for whatever reason to send it back - no problem. Worst case - an inexpensive lesson, best case - a nice coin for the collection. We'll see!

I agree with OneBowl It could be a Chinese Repo. It seriously looks like a fake coin to me.

My guess would be genuine XF/AU and polished to death. This looks way worse than a dipped coin imho.

I just got the coin and will post pics tomorrow. It looks a lot better in hand than the pictures taken by the seller - they were way too bright and made it look strange. The coin looks a lot more 'normal' to me, but under magnification there are a few issues that make me go 'hmm'. It'll be very interesting what you all have to say. I'm just starting with Barber dimes, so you will know MUCH more than I do for certain.

As a side bar...why would someone take the time and money to fake a coin that is relatively a cheap one? If I was to spend the time and money to fake something, it would definitely have to be worth it - a gold coin or a high grade rare coin of some sort (1916D Merc) - not a pretty common, average grade Barber dime. What do you think? I just wouldn't think that there are a lot of fake 1914P average grade Barber dimes around...it's not worth what it would cost someone to make it, right?

Some people reserve "whizzed" for coins that have been treated with a high speed wire brush, which leaves a distinctive flat but shiny surface. Others use it for any polishing, still others for any kind of cleaning.

Dipping leaves a flat appearance where there was deep tarnish, and shinier areas where the tarnish/wear was very light, like between the letters. IMO, this coin has been dipped. Repeated dipping results in the entire surface being flat and lifeless.

Pet peeve: especially if you insist I grade for myself, give me at least a 300 pixel sharp focus image.

OK folks...the results are in. IMO, it was treated with some sort of acid. I don't do this, so I don't know what is typically used for polishing/dipping, but I do know that silver doesn't rust. So the brown spots (see pictures below) must be from some chemical treatment. Also, under magnification, I saw all sorts of imperfections (I used arrows to point out most of them). Have you seen this with other Barber coins? Like I said, this is my first real dealing with Barbers so I have no idea. Let me know what you guys think about what I should do with it. I'm thinking that I'll just return it, eat the shipping, and take the my medicine and the lesson. What do you think, though? Grade? Value?