States Of Preservation : A Conundrum

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 1,161
publius Pillar of the Community United States 807 Posts	Posted 04/17/2015 03:24 am If I can get photos good enough to illustrate the curious situation in which I find myself, I will post them. It is not my habit to collect multiples of a coin type. When I have them, I sort the better one (by condition, not book value) to keep, & the other I put aside to sell or trade — not that I often do either of those things in actual fact. I find myself, at the moment, with two specimens of the Romania 25 000 Lei 1946. One of them gives the definite appearance of having been cleaned, & under the glass shows slight circulation wear. Its details, however, are strong & distinct. The other has what appear to be its original surfaces, & does not appear worn, but gives the strong impression of being a weak strike, perhaps of a late die state. Direct comparison shows that it lacks certain details which are present in what one would reasonably class as the lower-grade specimen. So : which would you prefer? Report this Post to the Staff

publius Pillar of the Community United States 807 Posts	Posted 04/17/2015 03:49 am Another curious case : I have a Great Britain 1816 shilling. It's in absolutely dire shape, one step away from deserving the description "mutilated". But it is of considerable historical significance, as the first British regal coinage in a generation, & the first struck to the new 66-shilling standard. I also have a specimen of the same type from the next year. This piece is moderately worn, but still has plenty of detail — the hatching in the shield is essentially complete, for example. Strangely, it has been gilded after being in circulation for a time ; it also has a couple of nasty corrosion spots. (In an effort to deal with these, I applied some "silver dip" compound, which had no effect on them but lightened the gilding several shades. I don't know if it's actual gold plating, or a copper-based gilding.) Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16826 Posts	Posted 04/17/2015 08:07 am Romania: I'd definitely avoid the one that "looks cleaned". British: since I keep different dates when I get them, I'd personally keep both - though be open to future upgrades of both of them. If however I was in the situation of buying one and only one of them and the price difference was negligible, I'd take the 1816; I consider "mutilation" to be more honest damage than gilding - which may have been an attempt at making the shilling look like a guinea or sovereign and would have been (and technically still is) illegal to do. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
paxbrit Pillar of the Community United States 992 Posts	Posted 04/18/2015 7:24 pm Keep both for now if you want, me, I tend to go for the one with the better eye appeal. You'll find an upgrade one of these days, then you can trade both of them. Report this Post to the Staff
Mr T Pillar of the Community Australia 2180 Posts	Posted 04/19/2015 12:02 am I would keep the better struck but cleaned example personally. Report this Post to the Staff
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