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 Replies: 25 / Views: 2,784 |
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Moderator
 Australia
16837 Posts |
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I don't get why people don't like the natural beauty of a coin. Good things don't have to be shiny and perfect. You and I see "beautiful toning". A non-coin-collector sees "ugly tarnish". The "worst" people for doing this are those who have some experience with silverware or other such metal items. People polish their silver spoons, dishes, etc all the time, and polished antique items are likely to fetch higher prices when sold. Such people are conditioned to think "tarnish is bad", and removing tarnish is value-adding. 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
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Valued Member
United States
366 Posts |
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I don't get why people don't like the natural beauty of a coin. Good things don't have to be shiny and perfect.
The same reason why some people don't like turnips. We are all different, to each his own. |
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Pillar of the Community
 Italy
1130 Posts |
I can only speak about the coins I encounter in Rome. I asked a dealer why so many coins are so polished in Italy. He explained it very simply . . . 'people here think silver gets polished.' All silver.
There is also a bit of a premium here on polished coins that don't look terrible (ie all the coins I pictured in this thread). A badly tarnished coin is valued less or at least equal to a polished coin - unless, of course, it's painfully shiny!
This is not so much the case at the higher end numismatic shops I have visited in Rome, but certainly seems the case in other retail settings.
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Valued Member
United States
137 Posts |
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The same reason why some people don't like turnips. We are all different, to each his own. I get that, but I'm seeing it more like a common-sense sort of thing I guess? I know that some people who want to increase the value do it intentionally/unintentionally or people who want to have a "pretty" coin collection (who don't know too much numismatics) would clean coins, but I feel like it has a similar effect like renovating some old wheelbarrow from WWII but replacing every single part with modern equivalents. It's not worth much anymore. I know it's not exactly like that, but it's taking the visible history away from the coin. Am I making any sense? |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
1557 Posts |
In one of the topics on the fourth forum, the topic of cleaning coins has already been raised. There we found out that there are some features of coin collecting in the USA and Europe (alas, we have few participants from Asia and we know little from there). So I think there is also an em "mentality" here?¿
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
1557 Posts |
I still don't think that cleaning is something bad if it is done by a specialist and he does it competently. Or am I wrong? Yet the coins that were lying in the ground or in the sea, they just need cleaning to remove contamination. But simply rubbing a coin with a brush is certainly murder, I agree.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Kind of makes uncleaned coins worth more.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5191 Posts |
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Sadly that type of thing is way too common here in New Zealand. A good quarter of all my halfcrowns, florins and shillings are cleaned and/or polished. Most of it was done between the 1960s and 1980s. Same story with dealers in Europe. They seem to be addicted to cleaning coins. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
579 Posts |
Its just sad when coins are cleaned. It is almost impossible(if not impossible) to reverse the damage.
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Valued Member
United States
366 Posts |
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Same story with dealers in Europe. They seem to be addicted to cleaning coins. *** Edited by the Staff - This added nothing to the conversation and has already been removed once before. Please do not do it again. *** |
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Replies: 25 / Views: 2,784 |
First Page
Posted 05/04/2022 07:31 am
