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What's the best way to highlight counterstamps?
Leroy
Posts: 186 ✭✭✭
Maybe paint over them with some black paint and a small model brush and then wipe off the excess? Or would this just be a mess?
Q-tip and paint thinner on a rag?
Something to make the counterstamp stand out - any ideas?
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If it has collector value, I would leave it alone.
Mostly modern coins '60's - '70's, they have collector value but I'm not sure that highlighting the stamps would matter. Wouldn't a bath in paint thinner remove the paint and not harm the surface of the coin?
What? No. Don't introduce chemicals onto the surface of a coin that has collector value or interest in any way. Don't use a brush on the surface of a coin.
Nobody wants a coin that is inauthentic.
--Severian the Lame
Why would you highlight them? If their in your collection you should know what they look like from detailed examination I would think.
Reed
I would focus on photography where a lot can be done with lighting to create contrast and shadows to make the counterstamp stand out.
If it was created that way by the maker, fantastic. If it was not originally highlighted that way, leave it alone! You can never fully undo alterations to a coin. Grime and other "highlights" from circulation and age are a way to help authenticate a vintage counterstamp
Here is one that was made that way.
Here is one that was not.
Ever see a Colt 1911 with white crayon down in the roll marks?
Don’t do it. !
UGH!
I wouldn't touch it
BHNC #203
I bought a Civil War era M1863 .58 caliber muzzle loading rifle off the internet where the seller highlighted the markings with white chalk so that the markings would show up better in his photographs. I soaked the chalk with some gun oil and used a toothpick and compressed air to clean it out. Chalk is somewhat abrasive so don't try this with a coin.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
As others have said above, you should not do it. Any attempt at enhancement is further alteration of the coin...Always detectable and it is considered detrimental. Cheers, RickO
If you are looking to highlight counterstamps from the 1960s-70s then I presume you are referring to the novelty Lincoln cents with added images (JFK, moon landing, Masonic symbols, etc.). If this is the case, most people consider these to be novelties and of little to no value. (Personally, I think they are collectable, but not worth much). If you wanted to darken a JFK profile on a 1968 penny I doubt anyone would complain, but in general the practice is not recommended or acceptable for most collectors.
I'm glad I asked before doing it, in this case the majority rules.
Normally I'd say the Magnum rules, but there more than six of us.
Let’s go with oblique lighting.