Descriptions of "Altered Surfaces"

maddox

What types of "Altered Surfaces" have you come across in your collecting experiences and can you give a brief description of what or how it was done, if known and HOW YOU DETECTED IT or how it was pointed out to you and what technique did you use.

eagle7

Got two back in PCGS bb's, one was a twenty lib(1903). A heavy mark in lady libs hair was tooled to make it not as noticeable. The other was a twenty St G where some glue was put in a heavy mark on lady libs arm. I found both after getting the body bag and then looking with a pinpoint light and a 7x loupe. I found another in an ANACS holder, a 1884CC 65 DMPL. When I got the coin in the mail there was a light mark above the eye which didnt look bad but which kept bothering me. Finally I inspected the area closely and found the tooling. Altered surfaces mean just that, re-engraving or changing in some way the surface of the coin(in a small area). Very different from hairlining and whizzing, which have their own bodybag check mark.

Dog97

Your bodybag says in item #4 Altered Surfaces includes thumbing, hazing & waxing.
It also includes California Proofs where the coin is polished with a dremmel or similiar tool. Similiar to whizzing.
Fake frosting on proofs. Dipping in acetone makes the paint, bondo etc come off. It's hard to doctor a coin inside the letters etc so you can usually tell.
Mercury will give a similiar PL effect to the fields.
Heat-a small torch is used to melt the surface and blend in marks. Makes the surface kind of wavy.
Bondo, putty and even womens makeup. Revelon comes in every shade imaginable, just right for touching up your monster toners.
And of course the old faithful, thumbing with your nose grease.

I had a cleaned VF Large Cent one time, courtesy of a mail order dealer from the coin rags that I rubbed on my forehead & rubbed the oil in real good with my fingers and set it on my window ledge for a couple of weeks in the weather. Every couple of days I would flip it over. It looked real good & original when I finished so I threw it in a submission I had going in just for laughs. It NGed for Altered Surfaces. I expected it to because the color was just a little off but hey most Large Cents are different colors. Looking back I think it was the glossy effect.

I've also had a Morgan NG for Altered surfaces. It was a normal looking XF so when I got it back I looked a little closer. The shine I took for being luster went round & round with the cartwheel effect in the protected areas but the field was just just flat shiny like a mirror. It was cleaned, probably lightly wiped with a polishing cloth like you polish jewelry with, but not hard enough to leave noticable hairlines.
I should have caught that one.

Draco

I had a recent 1854 half-cent come back to me for "altered surface" and I have no clue what they are talking about. The coloring is pretty dark, but I have and have seen many like it. It would have been nice to get some kind of comment from the grader.

sinin1

I had a 2cent come back with altered surfaces - really nice strong strike

not sure why - could be
1) a couple small corrosion spots
2) luster had been stripped off somehow
3) looks too good - new diestruck copy?

Gilbert

I had a coin with a dull brownish, what appeared to be toning, but it looked odd, as it only appeared within the field in front of Liberty's face -- one area where one may expect hairlines to be evident.

Submitted the coin to PCGS as it was one of my favored 1878 varieties.

The coin was returned in a bodybag for altered surfaces.

I couldn't clearly see what was supposedly altered, so for the first time, I submitted a coin to a "dip" which revealed minute hairlines and a disturbed field: the luster and prooflike surface in the field in front of Liberty was abraded. "Thumbed."

Sometimes to hide minor imperfections such as hairlines a person (most times an unscupulous person) will, using natural body oils (in the past it was assumed facial) and gently rub it on a coin's open fields (in most cases) with the thumb, hence the term.

This generally "obscures" the imperfection(s) as the oils attract substances and takes on the appearance of toning, but it usually is a brown dull non-reflective non-reactive look and most times within "a" field. Why, too much and it becomes obvious.