Lacquered Ceylon 1892 5 Cents: A Job For Ncs?

Please don't chemically treat it yet. Laquer has been known to be used in British India proofs. Post a picture so experts may determine if it is a proof or not. If it is a proof it may be worth much more and worth sending to NCS for cleaning and grading.

Thanks for the replies--I want to do the best for this awesome coin, which is 34mm and really thick!

I don't believe it is a proof, however I've never seen a proof of this issue and don't know what type of surfaces it would have. The strike is very good (which is typical for these coins) and there's a beautiful luster beneath whatever is on it. The 100k jpeg doesn't do the best job of showing the coating on the surface.

Actually the one you linked looks suspiciously like a normal strike. I guess that may be why the seller never bothered to have it slabbed.

The irregular rim, poor separation of rim and denticles, and spiraling metal flow on the surface are pretty typical of regular issues, such as I can see on your coin, the one you linked, and this slabbed one here: http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleN...&lotNo=61028

The Ceylon proofs from this era have very smooth fields and a wider, flatter rim that is sharply separated from the denticles all around.
Couldn't find many out there, but here is an 1891 proof Half Cent: http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleN...&lotNo=13015
and this lot shows an 1892 5 cents that is a circulated proof: http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleN...=21528#Photo

You can see the difference in the 3 coins mentioned in the first paragraph and the two in the second.


A cautionary note: removing the lacquer or oil or whatever from the surface may reveal significant discoloration that you may not like at all. You have to decide if eye appeal is more important to you than originality or vice-versa.