1915 Barber Half Dollar Before And After PCGS Conservation

Absolutely gorgeous! It looks like that not only did they remove the distracting spots, but they also very gently removed the thin skin that had been hiding "sleeping beauty". While many knowledgeable collectors will disagree with me, I love 20th Century coins that show their natural beauty, just as they came off the press, looking as the designer envisioned they would look!

Many of my high grade coins have undoubtedly been dipped at some point, but apparently gently enough that every one of them eligible for a CAC has a CAC.

Enjoy your "new" coin!

Steve

So the grade stayed the same?

Excellent!

That's very nice! Congrats on such positive results. I see a lot of conserved coins come back from PCGS details grade. You got a winner here!!

-CH27

This sounds odd, as PCGS guarantees that a graded coin (such as the one in the OP) cannot come back graded any lower than the grade it was in. However, if a RAW coin that would normally be graded as "Details" is accepted by the PCGS Restoration team to be restored if they feel the eye appeal would be improved by Restoration, then naturally it will be graded "Details", but will look nicer.




When submitted to PCGS Restoration, if they determine they cannot safely improve the eye appeal of a coin, they only charge you an evaluation fee of $10. If they do choose to restore the coin, they charge you 3% of the value of the coin in the final restored grade (not bad!). The separate fee for grading is then added on, and is determined by the level of service you choose (which is also impacted by the type and estimated value of the coin (modern, less tha $300, over $2,500, over $10,000, etc.).

I've only had three coins restored, but have been very pleased with the results. Visually great, and two of the three came back with a "+" added on. All three had CAC's previous to Restoration, and since the cert numbers must change, and the restored coins have changed, they must requalify to try to get the CAC back. To help, when I resubmitted to CAC, I included my paper trail to show the coins originally had CAC's. Fortunately, each of the three restored coins got their CAC sticker back!

Steve

Yes, let's hope to get the specifics from the OP.

In the meantime, the PCGS Price Guide currently has the value of a 1915 Barber Half as $2,000 in MS62, $2,250 in MS62+, and $3,000 in MS63. So if the final grade was one of those three grades, just multiply the appropriate value by 3%. (Perhaps when this process ended the PCGS values may have been different than the current values shown).

If "Regular" grading was chosen by the OP, then the grading fee, on top of the Restoration fee, is $38. If Express was chosen, then the grading fee was $68. PCGS adds on a $10 handling fee per submission form, and naturally there's round trip shipping.

In my opinion, whichever of the above costs were incurred, they're well worth those fees by the improved eye appeal. I'd be very surprised if the OP disagrees.

Hopefully the OP can reply with exact answers.

Steve

First, an absolute beauty and solid example for the grade, possibly a 63. Now this leads to a serious and debated question. Why is this somehow different than one being cleaned? Not knocking this in any way shape or form. But I have seen coins where non-professionals, if you will, achieve the exact results and yet those same professionals return them as cleaned. Why? Conserved, in my opinion, has the same meaning as the word cleaned.

Cynical here with same reaction as Ballyhoo.
Details: cleaned— no $$$ to PCGS.
Straight grade conserved: $$$ to PCGS.
Maybe a meaningless fact, but still a fact.