What does the term "Light Dip" mean?
Married2Coins
Posts: 583 ✭✭✭
Does it just mean "to dip?"
Does it refer to the strength of the chemical or the time in the solution?
When is it used?
Thanks for any info.
0
Comments
It could mean a "quick dip" and/or the dip being diluted with water.
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
For the few times I dipped a coin, it was both, about 3 seconds dip in a diluted E Z EST solution, ~ 50/50. Followed by a quick dip in a baking soda/water solution to neutralize the acid, then rinsed under water for about a minute. Hopefully the effect was removing the unwanted toning/tarnish but leaving the coin with full luster. And only on a AU58 - MS coin.
"Light dip" is often mentioned when a coin has been dipped and the luster has not been destroyed.
"Light dipping" is done at the owner's risk. Some coins cannot be dipped!
To me, a “light dip” implies that the luster hasn’t been impaired - which in many cases, is much better than it not having been destroyed.😉
And all coins can be dipped. It’s just that many are, even though there’s little or no upside and/or plenty of downside. Often, there’s no way to know until you’ve tried, though some people are much better than others in knowing buchele coins merit the attempt.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Less fat than regular dip.
Some people think that if a little bit of something is good for you, then a whole lot of it must be better for you. Never forget that one aspirin can do you a world of good, and a whole bottle of aspirin can kill you.
Coin dip is a mild acid that slowly removes the surface of the coin, starting with the tarnish and then attacking the metal. The technique described above of dipping the coin in the cleaning solution for just a few seconds, lets say three or maybe four, and then immediately neutralizing the acid in a previously prepared bowl of baking soda and water is a good one. Then rinse the coin in running water and pat dry.
Never rub powdered baking soda on the surfaced of a coin. It is a mild abrasive and can destroy the surface.
It is a meaningless marketing term.
It’s hyperbole used to descried a coin that clearly isn’t original but is still attractive. Of
course there are light dips all the way to stripped to death but the description lies in the results not the method and is most often used by people who have no first hand knowledge of the coins history so is by default just marketing BS
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
Mark, you are a true diplomat! My words were pretty harsh. I was remembering John Albanese's October 27, 2022 Coin Week interview:
" I used to work in a coin shop as a kid. I had jewel luster in my home as a kid. Personally, I don’t look at it as a mortal sin to dip a coin. I think it’s okay to dip certain coins. It’s not okay to dip other coins. Clearly, on this Proof Morgan dollar, it was a backwards move. It never should have been dipped. And many times, people dip the wrong coin and many times, people look at that coin and go, “Oh, this is overdipped.” Well, no it’s not. It’s not overdipped. This coin wasn’t dipped 10 times. It was just dipped once. You never should have dipped that coin. That’s the problem. There’s this misnomer of “overdipping”. All you have to do is dip the wrong coin once and you’ve ruined it."
Perhaps some of you should try an experiment I've done in a few grading classes. Take a BU, original 1921 Morgan dollar and dip it once for a few seconds, swish it in a bowl of distilled water and baking soda. Pat it dry with a cotton towel (no rubbing) and finish with a hair dryer. Repeat the process again and again. Let us know how long it took to to impair the coin's luster. It is more than ten (when I stop due to time).
So this is a fact for a professional coin dipper: As long as the coin is totally original and has been determined to be a good specimen for the test (some coins can be ruined with one dip but who knows their history) you will BEGIN TO SEE A CHANGE IN THE SURFACE SOMETIME BETWEEN THE TENTH DIP AND WHEN THE COIN DISSOLVES.
Here is another one. Drop a gem Proof Roosevelt dime in a small glass container of dip. Leave it in and keep checking its surface every hour. You might be surprised - I was.
Try dog spit! But if you lack a dog.......Just roll your tongue around that coin for a few seconds and see what happens! You might be amazed at how lustrous you made your modern-day coin and at little cost! Do not do this with heavily toned coins though, I learned that lesson. And be sure to rinse your mouth out with whatever beverage you have available.
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
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And that was fairly much it. Here you go.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1077119/1-1883-o-over-dip
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_KWVk0XeB9o - Ruby Starr (from 'Go Jim Dandy') Piece Of My Heart
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=D0FPxuQv2ns - Ruby Starr (from 'Go Jim Dandy') Maybe I'm Amazed
RLJ 1958 - 2023
A quick in and out. Not worked w say q tip. Could be prep for a submission get any kind of tarnish off. Dealers come into Unc rolls that could have good potential for a retail project.
Investors like coins brilliant, super luster, PQ. No tarnish, dark spots, or haze crap. Like a respray on a car at an auto shop. Then the dealer can easily get good retail per coin. Example dealer picks up BU Franklin Roll off bourse possibly an estate flip - Works it, all get a dip, nicer ones get on slab bus, others sold raw, Keystone. Picked up a beautiful BU Frank roll at a show, walkup collector immediately wanted buy it (pick off) but no way gonna sell it as roll (stuffed him in backfield) as gonna work it as above get real good money. Told him for a customer (me) then put it away in bank bag. That project worked out super made really good money. About half submitted others for collector coin tray. Moved quickly.
Is there a group of coins or a coin type that one should never dip? For example, many silver Barbers and Commemoratives have impaired luster.
Thanks for posting that link. Too bad he did not take nots of the time it took for each dip and r the number of dips. This is the kind of things we read that get a professional dealer to visit my class and tell the students he could put a light meter on a coin, dip it once and have the light meter get lower! LOL, I told the students a cloud must have covered the sun for his second reading and later I disproved what he had told them.
I've learned not to believe most things I read from others and like to prove them or disprove them for myself.
Not sure I would single out a coin series vs coin condition. The older series silver coins when well circulated coins usually acquire a nice thick dark patina (brown or grey) along with circulation dirt - see my 93CC below. There are exceptions like Peace $'s which for some reason are the exception if they do. Even 1 quick dip can ruin the coin. You know it when you see it and there is either an uneven look with a muted lightened patina/dirt on areas usually around the motto, legend, date, stars, in the device hair, etc vs no patina in the fields. Or they give it an extra long dip to try and remove it all and it gives that whitish look which is even worse. Why I noted above only higher AU & MS coins should be dipped.
I almost never dip coins but this was black and ugly looking before I dipped it in 50% E-Z est for three to four seconds. Unfortunately I lost the pre dip pictures.
I rarely will dip any naturally gray or dark silver coin below VF+ (often some original luster in the recesses) because the coin comes out dull and washed out unattractive.
Just for fun, I once proved to myself that dipping a very slightly tarnished Peace dollar in full-strength EZ-est for 15 seconds or two weeks made no difference. Once the tarnish is gone, further exposure to the acid does nothing.
A very quick or very dilute dip might remove only a portion of the tarnish layer, leaving a bit of oxidized silver. Chemically, this is actually a good thing, as stripping a coin down to bare metal leaves is very susceptible to further oxidation.