"Professional" Quality Job By ANACS

PCGS and NGC have also been known to do the same thing so I guess it is best not to send your coins to any service.

Well, so far all you've done is bashed ANACS without lifting a finger to give them the chance to defend themselves. Although I agree it's likely that they did something to the coin - and I'd be just as unhappy about it as you if they did - it's not the only possible explanation for the change in your coin and you're refusing to consider any alternatives.

As single-minded as you're being, you can expect to see Devil's Advocates arguing alternatives in your thread.

For me, part of it is, I can't think of any physical process that would cause the effect you show here aside natural chemical progression. I don't see what form of cleaning would just "dull" the toning without physically removing some of it. Doesn't mean such a process doesn't exist - I'm not infallible - but I can't see what they could have done to it.

I don't disagree with a thing you're saying.

I am, for the record, refusing to think that your photographic technique has anything to do with this - just to stop anyone in the future from proposing that - and taking you expressly at your word that what's represented in the pics is an accurate illustration of what happened.

I know more about dipping than you do (not that I'm "proud" of it), and can conclusively say that "dipping" in the sense of using thiourea on the coin has not happened here. Less than half a second of dip would remove enough of that toning to make an intervention that invasive obvious; whatever they did had to be a whole_lot less invasive than dipping.

It's why there has been the proposal that some sort of oil coated the coin, which was then washed away. Soap and water wouldn't change the toning at all, nor (as you say) could even the worst of atmospheres change the coin in such a short time. And even if it did, an atmospheric change would take the appearance of changing the hue of the toning, not the vibrance. Especially in your reverse image, you can see the hue unchanged.

So, the thing to do - and I hope you can do it; they might clam up - is to wring an explanation from ANACS regarding what they did to the coin. It'd be a service to the hobby. And my (admittedly) high opinion of ANACS is shaken here, regardless.

I do plan on making a call at some point if the email never gets a response. I figure by next week Ill be in more of a mood to deal with the run around from them in real time. Right now I would probably just hang up to prevent responding like Ralphie's dad in A Christmas Story. If nothing else at this point Id like to know out of curiosity.

Id like to be better armed by the time I do talk to them as well with some possibilities narrowed down. I feel we should be able to at least get closer to the answer if I stop my tirade and we take a logical approach. My cynicism leads me to believe theyll just play it off like nothing happened and I dont think Id be very effective at getting them to open up at all without being close enough to the answer to make them feel like they should just come clean (yes thats an awful pun to use right now ).

We know PCGS didnt feel the need to touch it. Id absolutely defer to your knowledge of dipping so we can rule that out. I completely agree that soap wouldnt be strong enough and environment was probably a minimal factor. From what I know of acetone I dont believe that would be able to do that either.

If its not those in their normal form I cant help but wonder if there was some sort of "house blend" used. Again showing my ignorance of dipping, if it possible to dilute or use it as an additive to some sort of wash where any sort of effect like that could occur? The other thing that just kind of occurred to me is maybe we're missing something from a chemistry standpoint. The Greenish/Blueish areas were the ones where the greatest loss occurred which makes me wonder if theres something unique about their properties in that color that could have reacted.

I would recommend calling them.

When I called them last fall about a submission question I think the phone rang 5 times and I got a real person who was able to answer my question right away.

I sent 2 coins in on their Holiday insider promo and tracking shows they got them on the 26th but I didn't get email confirmation of my submission until this morning so it would seem they are behind on emails and processing so again I would say give them a call and let them know you "think" you have a problem rather than immediately placing blame especially since it appears you have already cracked the coin out VS. the guy who's coin PCGS mulched up which is still in the slab.

Call them, none of the services have exactly a stellar record at responding to emails. And I'm not an apologist for ANACS, I dislike all of the services.

I shoot pics outside which seems to get the best results for me without "juicing" up the coin in the image. There is a some "wash" of the color, but the original picture had it as well so its kind of a push for any differences.

Whats throwing me off is that like you mentioned different parts of the coin did react different. Above and between the wing tips on the reverse it held up better than other places, while the area from Dollar to the R in America got brutalized. On the obverse thats the same side where you mentioned the loss by the ST. Its almost like they started to do something and stopped it when they saw what was happening on that side which I would guess was the first to go into whatever it was.




Hence why I havent called yet. My tolerance for getting the run around on the phone isn't exactly the highest. Ill try and give them a call Friday since that will have been over a week since the email

If your packaged coins were next to a heat source enroute to ANACS, couldn't that dull the vibrant toning? The reason I ask is because I experimented with AT using a damaged Ike dollar. I placed it in the oven for a while, which turned it to a nice, even, golden color. After the coin cooled down I put it back in the oven, and the coin then turned a very dull yellow color. Now, I know that this coin would not have been in THAT kind of heat, but there could be other variables at play too. Perhaps the toning was extremely delicate and was more susceptible to environmental changes. I'm not stating that this is what happened, but maybe it's possible?