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 Replies: 34 / Views: 4,949 |
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Valued Member
Canada
372 Posts |
 I know "they" say not to clean, but who wants to look at ugly silver? Any suggestions on what I should do? My wife wouldn't not clean something for 85 years and I am sure these coins are not uncirculated anyway.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
who wants to look at ugly silver? NO ONE... but the point is, when it comes to coins, the cleaned ones are the ones that are considered ugly.
not to mention a lot less desirable and a lot less valuable.
PLEASE do not touch these. if you really want shiny coins I'd be happy to trade yours 2 to 1 for some fresh out of a rock polisher.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4227 Posts |
While the photo is small, they are likely fine - and not ugly. "Cleaning" them is likely to remove their collectability and value, reducing them to melt. Closer photos could determine whether or not they can benefit from an acetone bath.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2366 Posts |
Cleaning will reduce them to pretty much melt value. Or face value for those that are not silver. If you're okay with that then they're your coins and you can do whatever makes you happy.
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Valued Member
 Canada
372 Posts |
Yes I feel that if they are for my own enjoyment, it makes no difference. There is no pgcs photograde type site for Canadian coins that I have found, but I have determined that they are probably in fine condition. If that is so, one could say that set is worth about $50. What I am learning though that if I wanted to sell, I would be offered $30, but if I wanted to buy it back the price would be $70. The problem is determining the value. If you used coinsandcanada as a guide the quarter is worth $13. If you check J&M you can buy one for $10. At today's rate the silver value is about $3.20, and Charlton's says a dealer will only pay $2. Quite a range indeed  I could find replacements if it were determined that my set had a decent value, but then the issue arises of why buy another one when I already have one. I have paid scrap value for silver coins in excellent shape with very little wear, and I have paid "trend" prices for coins I feel were over-graded by the seller, and should have been less than melt because they were so worn. I'm sure I won't be the last person with this dilemma. |
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Moderator
 Canada
10460 Posts |
Can you post better photos of the obverse sides?
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2366 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
726 Posts |
...You should post pic's of the first two coins..and ask the CoinCF what grade ?then consult the books.catalogues.websites...Will give you an idea of price before and after cleaning...Just to let you know I have cleaned certain coins myself.  Edited by persistnt
05/16/2014 2:32 pm
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Valued Member
Canada
372 Posts |
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Valued Member
Canada
372 Posts |
they are blurry but you get the gist.       So here is the story. I got the set when my father in law passed away. He displayed it proudly in the living room along with his other coin sets and the framed set of uncut 1 and 2 dollar bills with a shinplaster in between. He enjoyed looking at and handling his collection like many of us do. He didn't buy it as an investment, it was to enjoy. He has been dead 12 years and the tarnish takes away the appeal. To display it again in it's glory would be a tribute in my mind. I would not sell it myself, but pass it to my son who sorts coins with me. So numismatic value is really non relevant. The only person buying it would be a dealer wanting to "take it off your hands" at an estate sale many years from now. If you send a coin into be graded, they CLEAN it before they encapsulate it. Does that mean they devalued your coin and charged you to do so? Anyway, IF I wanted to preserve these coins what should I look to do with them Edited by wolfman-11
05/16/2014 7:11 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1511 Posts |
I guess if you want to I won't tell you not to... But personally I wouldn't. You have to remember that even if they're only for our personal enjoyment were only the 'caretakers' for the coins during our life, and if you pass them down (As I plan to as well) our children will olny be part time caretakers also, as the life of the coins will outlast us as well as our kids... So I believe we should try to preserve the coins in there natural state for future collectors .... And wether one loves or hates toning it is the natural process that happens to them wether we like it or not... Lol (I personally do) All coins will eventually tone. Quote:
If you send a coin into be graded, they CLEAN it before they encapsulate it. Does that mean they devalued your coin and charged you to do so? I don't know about that.... What companies are you referring to? For the top three, PCGS, NGC and ANACS this smily isn't true at all... Maybe with Canadian compaines but I rather doubt it. You can pay extra at the top three for them to perform a conservation/restoration... But only if you pay extra, something can be done, and done safely without deeming it cleaned. They ways they. ' restore' a coin will not earn it a details grade unless it already warranted one.. But again, do as you please I wouldn't dream of telling someone what to do with their possessions.. And they're in lower grades anyways, but I personally wouldn't as I like them in their natural state Edited by NathanASE
05/16/2014 7:29 pm
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Valued Member
Canada
372 Posts |
I certainly do not have any coins worth grading or encapsulating, but when I researched the subject I came across information stating that coins submitted to NGS can got to NCS for "conservation", like NathanASE stated. Maybe if I saw a valuable "aged" coin live I could appreciate it. I do have some common pennies and nickels with the rainbow on them and they are really neat, knowing that it naturally occured over time. As a amateur to the Coin World, I accept that I can be completely wrong, but preserving a coin by removing debris and foreign matters sounds like a costly name for cleaning. I don't want to start a riot but I will ask this. What is the attraction of a dirty coin? And why would a dirty coin see a higher valuation? People paint the walls and steam clean the carpets when they are selling a house to increase value. Nobody would want to pay more for a home with sand in the rugs and skidmarks in the toilets. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1511 Posts |
Ya the major companies will restore a coin, but only if you opt to and pay extra. And they will only do restorations that will not harm the coin.. Such as remove PVC damage etc.. If it's something that will deem it "cleaned" if they did it they will just say they couldn't do anything and slab it anyways. Likewise if you don't choose to pay for the restoration they will just slab it.
Lol, I agree that there's apparently a very fine line between restoration and cleaning, restoration is 'fixing' something that will further harm the coin while cleaning it is just trying to make it "shiny"...
It's comparing apples to oranges when you talk about painting walls and cleaning carpets, when it comes to collectibles people tend to want "original"... And the more original the better when it comes to coins. As mentioned cleaned coins are reduced to melt value... And as collectors many believe that as the custodians of said coins we have the "responsibility" to preserve them for future generations..
I personally prefer colorfully toned coins opposed to darker colors, but don't really like blast white circulated coins, not nearly as much at least (Even nice MS coins I prefer toned). With a blast white well circulated coin it means they've most definitely been cleaned (well circulated coins shouldn't be blast white... It's just not possible with the amount of time they spent in circulation). I think heavily circulated coins look worse blast white opposed to with a natural patina, but again, to each his own... They're your coins and you can do as you please, just try to picture what they'll look like totally clean with the amount of wear they have...once they're cleaned you can't go back, lol.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4911 Posts |
If you do not like these coins there are 3 things you could do,
sell them and buy a nicer, more apealing set selected by you,buy acetone which will remove the dirt and unwanted materials without harming the coins or the much dreaded cleaning of the coins which I do not suggest.
As far as the dusty rugs and skiddy old toilets, those are things people use and see daily so for eye appeal and heigeen reasons people prefer to clean those things to prevent dirt,disease and disgusted guests. The coins on the other hand are pieces of history and we must do our best to preserve them for future generations to see, think of it this way you can buy a regular old rug and there will be another thousand identicle ones on the production but if you buy an old coin and clean it that's just one less to go around.
Here's another perspective, your coins circulated and have their own personal history so every time you wipe it or clean it you're literally erasing that history off of its surface wheater it be the prints of the guy who bought a drink with it in 1933 or or the little smudge of dirt the prime minister left on it when he pulled it out of his pocket. Point is you can wash a carpet and put more dirt on it later but you can't put the prints of 10,000 dead and possibly famous people back on a coin once you've buffed it with your handy dandy buffing wheel.
I hope you understand and consider what has been stated above
Its your choice my friend
Feel free to call me Will.
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Valued Member
Canada
372 Posts |
I am in the automotive industry and when people want to restore a car to "original" they want it to look and feel exactly like the day it came out of the factory. I guess that's why I am having difficulty seeing a mucked up coin as original. I am sure that the pros are much more meticulous at cleaning coins than anyone could possibly do themselves, and that's what they get paid for. I guess that is why it is "preserving" rather than cleaning. They are not making it like new, but hopefully preventing further deterioration.have it restored I myself have a nice 1972 nickel that is rainbow toned. I will keep it as it is because it is pretty, but I wouldn't expect it makes it worth any more than 8¢ for the nickel value. Now dollarman said Quote:
buy acetone which will remove the dirt and unwanted materials without harming the coins or the much dreaded cleaning of the coins Maybe I am misunderstanding the word cleaning. Isn't removing unwanted materials what cleaning is? Or, is cleaning defined as mechanical buffing of a coin? If that is the case, of course I would never do that, It would ruin the finish for sure. I'm just talking about a bit of soap and water.I do have acetone as well but would have thought that was too harsh a chemical to use. So I suppose that if you had a coin restored by a pro, you cannot honestly say it is in original condition, since it has been manipulated? Edited by wolfman-11
05/16/2014 9:19 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4227 Posts |
You are missing the point of the information people that have a whole lot more experience are giving you, so I don't think there's anyway to get you to understand, so go ahead and do what you want. You will be devaluing the coins monetarily - there's no question about that. They will not likely have any numismatic value above the intrinsic value of the silver if they are harshly cleaned. Preserved is a whole different ballgame. Also, when coins are submitted to a grading company they are not cleaned before they are encapsulated unless you asked for them to be preserved (and only some companies do that). People that like cars may want them to look shiny-new, but these coins can never look new because they have been circulated (they have wear) - polishing them up will only make them look like they were handled by someone who had no clue as to what they were doing when it comes to coins. If I was to restore a car, the result would likely be the same. They are your coins and it's your choice to do what you want with them, but they will leave your hands at some point. I would want the next person to have a choice as to what to do with them and if they are harshly cleaned, they will only be collectible as bullion.
Good luck.
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Replies: 34 / Views: 4,949 |
Posted 05/15/2014 9:18 pm
