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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,658 |
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
Purchased a set of Indians and have found a handful of coins have been altered in some manner (darkening primarily). Some are VF-XF-AU condition, but have been cleaned and darkened at some point in their lifetime as best I can tell.
How would you value these coins in comparison to coins of like wear but in an unaltered condition?
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Rest in Peace
10197 Posts |
 ! Depend on this "alteration"...what was done, kind of cleaning, polishing, what materials may have been used. A harsh, abrasive clean and polish then applied patina...? The coin is altered, and depending on above factors may well be worthless. My question is when looking at these, what are the details, full liberty, diamonds, "L"...and the edges, is this natural or altered(cleaned) wear. Natural coins(for all relative purposes) have the wear/color, these are indeed preferable, some dark ones may also be "natural" if say buried in a dry environment, dirt covered, but look for pitting in these cases! Edited by Crazyb0
02/13/2017 3:20 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
716 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
650 Posts |
It would be a fair assumption that these coins will not be worth as much as untainted coins. Maybe if you're just filling holes in an album, they might be ok. But, like everyone else says, we need photos.
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Valued Member
 United States
234 Posts |
Here are a few example photos. The 1908S has definitely been colored. The 1865 is really dark and may have been darkened as well but appears to also have some dark corrosion. The 1866 appears to have possibly been colored but also has verdigris at spots. The 1895 has been cleaned and has a dead appearance.   |
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
Here are a couple photos of what I believe to be unaltered coins. It was a weird set in that there existed some older much nicer coins with more current coins that seemed to be of little value. I discounted the colored stuff anywhere from 25%, 50% and 75% depending on the detailed condition and the degree they had been worked on. If they are strictly worth a buck a piece, I probably got drilled in the end. That said, there were a significant number of what I considered desirable coins that appeared unaltered.   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Remember, these last two are copper nickel in composition, not bronze, so their appearance differs from later issues in all grades. As to the first four coins, the '08-S is the only one that looks possibly original/attractive to me. If it's been colored, as you say, give us some close-ups and explain your thoughts if you would.  |
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
Strangely there were two proofs that made up a part of the set albeit they weren't noted as such by the seller. Here are the photos of the two. A 1893 and 1894 proof. The 94 looked to be altered also, but had a local take a look at and he felt the cobalt blue was real toning.   |
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
The 08S has a very thin strip of light orange around 40-50% of the rim and is a chocolate brown everywhere else. I ended up grading it at around XF40, but discounted it +/- 50% of a problem free coin (i.e. $64.00). If its worth not much more than a buck because its colored then I obviously lost a few pesos as a function of that transaction and probably didn't do well on the coins I deemed problematic.
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Valued Member
United States
219 Posts |
Generally, coins that are artificially toned are in the same category as cleaned coins. Expect that the value of your coins would be 40-50% of what a normal, unaltered coin would be.
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
Well I'm getting a moderately costly education with this set. I'm in the process of using Verdi-care on the ones I thought could be helped and looked to be not artificially toned and voila ... the darkener is coming off before my eyes. I wasn't aware Verdi-care would do so, but as I said ... it's becoming an education for future reference. That said, some of these cents had me fooled so I didn't discount, but they're colored also.
Can anyone tell me what I should expect to happen to a doctored coin when Verdi-care is applied?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
How about some evidence that the '93 and '94 coins are proofs, if you would please. Edited by Coinfrog
02/13/2017 7:55 pm
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Valued Member
United States
234 Posts |
I was told that by a local dealer. I asked how do you know they are proofs, he said he could tell they were so since they had polished rims. That was new one on me. I had never heard such a thing, but the rims of each were certainly different from the other coins.
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,658 |
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Posted 02/13/2017 3:15 pm
