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 Replies: 47 / Views: 11,908 |
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Moderator
 United States
22215 Posts |
To help some of us
Can some of you post examples of "cleaned coins" vs a non cleaned coin.
I think this would be good practicce and a great help to many
rggoodie
aka Richard
"catch em doing something right"
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
20 Francs gold Leopold II Uncleaned and cleaned with copper polish 35 years ago The dark one is cleaned and reflects more light  |
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
50 ECU proof as is  |
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
Same 50 ECU after 60 seconds acetone dip  |
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Valued Member
United States
169 Posts |
Is the acetone dip considered a "legitimate" way of cleaning, or is that still ba black mark?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
603 Posts |
Quick question about the 50 ecu. are the 8'sin the date suppossed to be different? I must be improving my eye for detail, that jumped out at me right away. I hope acetone is a acceptable way to clean, cause it looks so much nicer after the bath
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
quote:
Is the acetone dip considered a "legitimate" way of cleaning, or is that still ba black mark?
The answer to this question is a matter of opinion, and opinions differ. In my opinion, acetone is a legitimate treatment because it only affects things which were not on the coin when it came from the mint. This is different from "dipping," which term implies the use of a reactive compound like thiourea that actually removes material which was originally part of the coin as minted. Now, to address the original subject: Below you'll find pics of a mistake which cost me over $100. I was only able to discover the cleaning by cracking the coin from a PCGS slab, making it impossible to return. The coin had been mechanically cleaned, and then artificially toned to mask the brushing. Not only did it fool PCGS, it fooled Heritage Auctions, and it fooled me. Before:   After:  
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
Dave, the difference between the "before" and "after" pics of the same coin are obvious. Did you get the hairlines to become visible merely by applying acetone? It almost appears that some sort of substance was added to fill in the hairlines before toning - I can't see any signs whatsoever of harsh cleaning in the "before" picture.
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Forum Mom
United States
5877 Posts |
I think that, once we get enough pictures together here in this thread, I'll post a sticky topic in this section with the photos and stating what type of cleaning/whizzing/polishing, etc. This should make it easier for our members to identify cleaned/whizzed coins. This seems to be a very hot topic right now and it would certainly benefit our members who don't have a lot of experience in this area. I'll try to get some time to dig up the pics I have of cleaned coins to post here also.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1173 Posts |
Edited by hunter20ga
04/07/2007 2:10 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
@ yavaris after the fact acetone dipping well done is totally invisable under any kind of magnification because it is a fingerprint - oil - fat dissolver Badly done it will leave stains of water or deposits that can easily be removed So I have acetoned so many coins I cannot recognise the difference between acetoned or not At one time I even got a 100 FF Napoleon III with a perfect fingerprint on it  |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Fred, I think the coin was "smoked," in some fashion, so actual physical particles became part of the color, helping to fill in the lines. Acetone had no effect on it - I finally had to dip the coin to reveal the damage. My first clue didn't happen until I started surveying it with my QX5 - at 60x, I began seeing hairlines. At that point, I realized that something was seriously wrong with the coin. Understand, I'd originally purchased the coin as a near-Condition Census example of a prominent 1921-D Morgan VAM; my judgement was admittedly swayed by the PCGS slab and the Heritage Auctions venue. I hold neither of those parties to blame for my error. Heck, I have coins at PCGS as we speak, and I've bought from Heritage since. I chose to trade the $130 I'd spent on the coin for an invaluable lesson, photographed for posterity, of what gets perpetrated on even the experts in numismatics. This marks half a dozen times I've posted in various forums about this coin, and I'm beginning to feel it was money well-spent for the number of people I'm helping to educate as a result. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
Some cleaned coins are not always obvious in hand, even under magnification. PCGS bodybagged this 90CC Morgan and labeled it "harshly cleaned". I disagreed with them, could not see any signs of cleaning (it cartwheeled very nicely) so submitted to ANACS and it still came back cleaned. I had cracked it out of an NGC MS-62 slab. I shudda left well enough alone. Interestingly, I still made a sizable profit when I sold it on ebay.   |
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
quote:
Quick question about the 50 ecu. are the 8'sin the date suppossed to be different?
The pics I have seen show all different 88 this must be intentional since the 87 has the same problem 
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
A cleaned and uncleaned Vreneli 1935 Harshly cleaned with copperpolish ; scans darker as it reflects more light  |
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
The liquid copperpolish called Sidol does not show any cleaning lines  |
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Replies: 47 / Views: 11,908 |
Posted 04/07/2007 09:59 am
