Micro-Numismatic Quiz #19 ANSWERED
Insider2
Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭
Sorry, no prizes 
I am going to be posting micrographs of anything that can be found on coins. Some will be easy and some will not. The correct answer is whatever I say it is 
but feel free to disagree (giving your reason) so all of us can discuss it. Images will be posted in this thread at my discretion - several each week. I will usually post the answers late the next day after the quiz was posted.
In order to make this FUN for beginners. I'll ask the "experts" to PLEASE not guess what any of the images are until the next day. Otherwise, folks like (fill in the blank) will get all of them immediately - That's NO FUN. If no correct answer is given by the next day, the "experts" should PLEASE respond. The answer for each image will usually be posted in the afternoon when I add another image.
The Rules:
1.Anyone can guess. That's because even an incorrect guess can open further discussion as to why it is incorrect.
2.The BEST guess is in two parts:
A. What characteristic the image shows.
B. What did you see in the image that led to your guess.
The Question: Can you guess what the red-colored deposit on this darkly toned silver coin might indicate?
The Image:
Comments
Looks like jewelers wax to me. Or someone spilled the marmalade and didn't get it all wiped up.
some type of sulfur compound that was used to impart dark toning?
Pizza sauce?
Seriously. some chemical residue from an improper rub job?
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
Possibly a type of sulfur/sulfide compound with a petroleum base (vaseline) was applied, but was not completely removed in those crevices.
As a kid, I once found a 1932 quarter painted onto the concrete basement floor in a dark corner of an old house. Lacquer thinner took the paint off, but got scratched a bit in the crevice corners during the process. Could be simply red paint.
Remember using fingernail polish on coins used in the jukebox??? It was always red.
Now, don't ask me what a jukebox is, please, google it.
bob
Bubble gum. Used it a time or two for a coin under the grate in the street.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
I remember when the jukebox wasn't being used, the bar owner would "prime the pump" by playing a few songs using quarters with red paint so they can be identified as not being from a customer and can be retrieved when the owner of the jukebox emptied the machine. As far as what the red stuff on the coin is I have no idea what it is. Agree that it's some foreign substance used to enhance the coin in some manner.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
I know that you're joking but I bet someone has tried pizza sauce to AT a silver coin at one time. You'd be amazed at what substances have been tried to enhance a coin.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
1) die erosion
2) copper improperly mixed into the planchet
BHNC #203
Looks like a caped bust to me with sum residue
Bondo ?
Looks like it was painted at one time and that's what is left.
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So far no correct answers. This first hint should be all you need: The coin's surface under the toning is not original.
Pizza sauce would more likely remove toning than AT a coin I believe.
Cast counterfeit ferrous metal? This is a hard one!
A non-original surface can mean plated. Then the interior is a counterfeit metal and rusted through the plating.
I see signs of heat-induced (purple-black) coloration. Dark toning could be AT, with perhaps heat reacting to other residue to become red.
Hint #1: The coin's surface under the toning is not original.
Hint#2: : The toning is artificial and the coin is genuine.
What's going on with this coin?
Jeweler's rouge.
Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
Adding hint 1 & 2 equals: Genuine coin with an unorginal skin with an artificial toning layer.
The unoriginal skin is bleeding through the AT or interacting with the AT to cause the splotches. No idea what the inoriginal skin is except maybe plating or as mentioned previously paint.
BINGO!
This coin was lightly buffed, then toned. The surface under the red rouge is sill silver colored. A coin as attractive as this Capped Bust half will be sold as an MS-62 or 63. Always check the recesses of coins for white or red residue as this often indicates an alteration more excessive than cleaning.
When this coin was toned, the "flats" on its design can mimic a weak strike rather than loss of detail from circulation. In the case of this coin, it is probably a combination of both as it is not beat up from normal circulation. Possibly withdrawn soon after it was issued.
Had look that up:
Jewelers Rouge (also known as polishing rouge or jewellers rouge) is a very fine compound originally developed by the jewelry trade for buffing precious metals. Jewelers rouge will bring out the maximum luster and a mirror like finish in jewelry and other items made of soft metals. Ferric oxide (red) is often used.
Thanks for another good lesson!
Thanks! Learned something from the jewelry trade, too.
My first real job, working for a jeweler, was polishing jewelry findings, My fingers would get stained red and the skin would have to wear away before it faded much. Best part was I learned to do Florentine gravure, make a clean solder joint, and set stones.
Insider2, the hints really sealed it for me - thanks for the help
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Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
I was gonna say shoe polish. Anyone tried that before? It might make a nice matched set of brown Indians.
LOL, actually shoe polish was one of the biggest clues that a coin was counterfeit or altered...40 to 50 years ago. Not so much now.
Thanks for posting these quizzes! They have been educational for me. One follow up question...it’s interesting because I have a Col. Green/Newman Seated Half with this red color in the reverse shield crevices. I never thought anything of it and it is CAC stickered. Can you get this red toning without the Jewelers Rouge and how can you differentiate it?
Thanks in advance!
Under magnification the "red" area will be raised on the coin. Corrosion on copper can be red but your coin is silver. In any case, my best guess is that it does not belong on the coin. Picture?
Sorry to drag up an older post but I found an example of what appears to be the tell tale sign of red jewelers rouge in a circulated coin. Is this an example of what was referred in this post? This coin I see CAC approved and seems to have original surfaces. Thoughts?
With my last post, here is another example. You can see the red in stars 1,2 and 4. This particular coin is also CAC certified and appears to be as original as they come. I'm just trying to learn what to look out for and remember this post by Insider2.
That looks more like sealing wax which is harder than rouge. When I see this on a coin, I remove it with permission.
Sorry but just as a follow up, the sealing wax had nothing to do with cleaning, preservation, etc....correct? It just got there as opposed to Jewelers rouge that was applied as a cleaning agent? I guess we won't know but it does seem like a harder material like dirt or wax.
Follow up questions are good. It make both of us think.
Yes. Lots of times old cleaning under gray toning is ignored because coins that old have often been cleaned. It is a matter of the degree of "market acceptability."