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Can Mint Frost Or A Toning Patina Survive Dipping?

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 Posted 11/04/2025  12:46 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add Sharkman to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Regardless of the TPG position that dipped coins are not cleaned, I am seeing great hostility among Liberty Seated collectors to TPG slabbed coins that look dipped. Any dipped coin will automatically be rejected by CAC.
I find myself a little paranoiac when I receive a coin in the mail that is shinier than its picture suggests. But I have been closely reexamining some coins I feared were dipped and found bits of toning around letters and other devices, shiny patinas with areas that still show the original untoned color beneath the patina, and unmistakable remaining mint frost.
It seems to me that such attributes would weigh against a dipping conclusion, but I would like to ask your opinions on my thoughts.
BTW I bought a bright, much more shiny than the normal appearing picture, PCGS VF35 1859S SLD from a national dealer with a large internet presence. I sent it back by return mail.
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Marv65's Avatar
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 Posted 11/04/2025  01:21 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Marv65 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Dipping a coin in any acidic solution will remove toning and could possibly remove the frost if dipped long enough. Dipping actually removes a small amount of the coins surface.
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 Posted 11/04/2025  06:40 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Slider23 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I had a conversation with JA at CAC about dipped coins. He said, "I could take a roll of uncirculated Franklin half dollars and dip half of them, and the so called dip experts could not tell a dipped one from a none dipped one". Your comment about CAC should read, "any obvious circulated dipped coins will be automatically rejected by CAC".

All dips are not the same as the dip can be diluted to different strengths and time in the acid impacts the removal of toning and metal. If the dip is done correctly, the mint frost will not be impacted. When coins are dipped, the original mint surface is removed, and the coin tends to tone faster and ugly.
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 Posted 11/04/2025  10:41 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Dipping a coin in any acidic solution will remove toning and could possibly remove the frost if dipped long enough. Dipping actually removes a small amount of the coins surface.
This.

Quote:
All dips are not the same as the dip can be diluted to different strengths and time in the acid impacts the removal of toning and metal. If the dip is done correctly, the mint frost will not be impacted. When coins are dipped, the original mint surface is removed, and the coin tends to tone faster and ugly.
And this.

Dipping is part art, part science. There are experts who can do it undetected, learned from experience via trial and error. Do not expect to be able to do it without ruining a few coins in the beginning.
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 Posted 11/04/2025  12:54 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sharkman to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks Marve, Slider and Jbuck
CACG grading and CAC stickering have helped foster a "give me originality or give me death" attitude among many high end collectors. I don't think a dipped coin can be considered original. And I can see how an MS or AU coin can be cleaned, wiped or otherwise degraded from original state without being dipped.
Slider, you have it straight from the horses mouth. I had previously read that JA acknowledged that not all dipped coins can be detected. Now, I understand that if a MS coin is dipped properly, as Jbuck explains, even CAC cannot detect it as unoriginal. So I needn't worry about my TPG graded MS coins being deemed unoriginal on account of dipping. And I suppose that would be true of AU58 and perhaps AU55 TPG graded coins. But if I see a perfectly white XF45, I would be safe in assuming it to be unoriginal on account of dipping.
From my experience, and that of others more qualified than I, these days CAC is declining to sticker almost all certified MS and AU Liberty Seated coins being submitted to it. And I am aware of one instance where CACG crossed a PCGS MS64 to CACG MS62.
Whether CAC/CACG have moved their goal posts is a question for another day. At least now I can relax from worrying whether my certified MS and probably high AU coins would be deemed unoriginal because they have been dipped. And I don't need to replace that white, completely untoned PCGS MS63 1875S 20 cent piece in my type set.
Thanks again for your help.
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Slider23's Avatar
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 Posted 11/04/2025  6:31 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Slider23 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Whether CAC/CACG have moved their goal posts is a question for another day. At least now I can relax from worrying whether my certified MS and probably high AU coins would be deemed unoriginal because they have been dipped. And I don't need to replace that white, completely untoned PCGS MS63 1875S 20 cent piece in my type set.
Thanks again for your help.


If you are trying to collect a set of coins with original skin, it is best to stay away from the all white examples. Unless you know the history of the example of an all white MS coin, there is no way to be certain that the coin has not been dipped. Coins that are 100 plus years old tone unless the storage prevented toning. A lot of collectors like the all white MS examples, so on resale it is not a negative.
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