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 Replies: 15 / Views: 2,368 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1180 Posts |
I picked this up online a few days ago. It is a "Willabee & Ward Complete Franklin half dollar Set." Each coin is in a little card with plastic around it and then they sit in pages of a book. First off has anyone ever heard of this set? Second how do I know if the plastic is going to cause PVC damage? I'd prefer to just leave the set as-is but I don't want to coins to be damaged. Lastly I'm having a lot of trouble telling if some of the coins have been cleaned. I do see some faint hairline scratches but they arent all over the coin. Every other cleaned coin I've seen looks scrubbed but these faint scratches are kind of intemittant, maybe just scratches from touching other coins? I've even looked at them with a 10x loupe but I just can't tell.. BTW - this is all I could find on the set. http://www.willabeeandward.com/prod...5-_2707-0010Any info would be appreciated, thanks!    *** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***Edited by LibertyEagle20
10/16/2015 6:58 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1180 Posts |
Here are a few more pictures. At first I thought they were bag marks, now I'm thinking it might be cleaning. All the other cleaned coins I've seen have been rougher but maybe these were a light cleaning? If so I want to return it.   |
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
It's hard to tell by the photos your showing us. the only thing for sure is that they are a circulated set. I've never seen that kind of album set before, so I don't know if it has PVC or not. either take them out of their holders and get some close ups of obverse and reverse, or take them to a LCS or show and ask their opinion about cleaned or not.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
 Can't tell anything from these pics. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1180 Posts |
Ah, that sucks.. well thanks for trying. I keep going back and forth on it. Some of the later year ones are actually BU and a couple even have FBL. The problem I'm having is I can't really bust them out of the set because then I couldn't return the item. I also don't have a LCS. I don't want to be a difficult buyer but I hate cleaned coins. As mentioned when I've got a cleaned coin on ebay in the past it's been obvious. With these I can only see the scratches at 10x. Other cleaned ones I've seen before it was obvious with the naked eye. Do you normally see hairline scratches on non-cleaned coin when looking at them with 10x? I don't know of any other way to get good pictures. |
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Valued Member
United States
59 Posts |
I wouldn't worry about the scratches. Like has been said, you have a circulated set. Some have been cleaned, maybe all except the newest ones. My set I put together overall has better coins than that one, but I spent a little more on better ones. If you can return it, do. Put together your own selections and you will be much happier and pleased with it. Like I am with mine. You could try a Dansco, it's only 2 pages long.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7184 Posts |
I would venture to say your set has normal circulation scuffs and scratches. Interesting set.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1180 Posts |
Oh yeah it's definitely circulated. Some of them are borderline AU though (although might be "details" if it turns out they are clenaed :() I got about an average price on it (right around $7.50 per coin). That might seem kind of high but check ebay.. for some reason people regularly pay $7-8 for circulated franklins. More than that on some of the S ones. I know a lot of the years you can pick up for around $10 in BU but the harder to find years are more than that. The more I look at them, I just can't tell. It has me scared that some of my other coins that I thought were BU may be cleaned as well when I bust out my loupe on them. Every other "cleaned" coin I've found has a bunch of scratch marks across the whole coin, or atleast in an area. These scratches are more spread out, so it doesn't look like someone was scrubbing the coins. Here's a couple more pics but I doubt it will make a difference.   Edited by LibertyEagle20
10/16/2015 8:36 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5196 Posts |
Any set that is "packaged" by some catalog seller or Sunday newspaper add seller like this and those "Coins of the Titanic" or the "Last Year of Each Quarter" or whatever you want to find are either cleaned or well circulated. They are in it for the maximum profit margin and looking to sell to uneducated collectors or seniors.
I'd send it back unless you paid melt or close to it for the set.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
711 Posts |
Interesting.
I take it this is a recent purchase of a newer item?
If so, if it smells like a shower curtain, it is PVC. Otherwise we are destroying some plastic to test further.
If it is an old purchase, it isn't PVC. The damage would have been done by now.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3463 Posts |
PVC will not break when you bend it, it is very flexible. Non-PVC is usually stiffer plastic and will crack when it is bent.
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Moderator
 United States
187544 Posts |
Interesting set. A fun keeper if the price was right.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1180 Posts |
Price was right at $7.75 a coin. Since I can't tell if they are cleaned I don't think I'll push for a return, it really wouldnt be fair to the seller. Also as mentioned some of them do look BU. Now I just have to decide if I want to bust them out of their cards. The plastic does appear kind of soft but not as soft as the wrapping around a DVD,CD, etc. I kind of want to keep it "AS IS" but if theres PVC in the plastic all these coins will get ruined. Theres no sign of green on the coins right now.
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Moderator
United States
187544 Posts |
Looking at the texture of the pages, they do not appear to be crystal clear. I do not think they are PVC. I could be wrong though.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1913 Posts |
For the price it looks like a nice set to me.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4587 Posts |
What's the copyright date on the album? That will give you a guess as to whether it is older (likely) or new.
-----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
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Replies: 15 / Views: 2,368 |
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Posted 10/16/2015 7:32 pm
