Louis Eliasberg's dirty little secret...

MrEureka

I'm sure to get flamed over this post, but what the hell.

Many of Eliasberg's toned silver coins had a number of tiny bright spots in the toning. At these spots, the toning was a touch lighter and there appeared to be a mild disturbance in the luster. At the time, I imagined how Louis Eliasberg might have sat up late at night, drinking fine scotch, smoking a fat cigar, and carefully removing spots from his coins with a tiny eraser. When figuring my bids, I discounted these coins more than I should have. The spots didn't bother anyone else and the coins graded higher than I expected.

So, did anyone on these boards notice the same thing? Or was I just "seeing spots"?

Russ

Aren't you racked with guilt at the extra profit you made?

Russ, NCNE

MrEureka

Aren't you racked with guilt at the extra profit you made?

Just the opposite. I'm tormented by the lost opportunities. I didn't buy any of the erasered coins.

Skipper53

I've considered using an eraser on some of my coins,
but I figured they'd get bodybagged.
Wrong last name, I guess.

skipper

Lakesammman

I was so new to coins that I didn't notice much of anything but the beauty of it all!

lordmarcovan

Eliasberg was a product of an earlier age. The taboos were different then (if in fact there WERE any numismatic taboos!)

I had a Morgan dollar I was given from my grandmother (an AU58 PL 1878-S). I took it to school one day and erasered parts of the reverse. Even as a dumb kid (this would have been about 1978, when I was in the seventh grade, I guess), I could see that erasering was NOT a good thing! I kept that coin until 1999, when I passed it on to a newborn nephew. It took it about ten to fifteen years to retone over the erasering.

boiler78

Lakes- Your Eliasberg J193 and J212 have both been erasered! I think you should dump them on some unsuspecting collector like, say...... me!

1jester

I don't know if he used erasers on his coins or not, but if he was smoking around them, they could have developed a film and subsequent toning I've seen on some coins. This "smoker's toning" can smudge if you touch it, and it can be removed with acetone unless it's been on quite a long time.

BillJones

I've probably seen far fewer Eliasberg coins than you have, Andy, but my main problem with them has been that a lot of the slabbed peices with "Eliasberg" marked on them have been overgraded. In a couple of cases I've seen pieces that were no better than AU-58+ (super sliders) get into MS-65 holders! I've also got to admit that I sold a couple of Eliasberg coins in MS-64 holders that were the nice for the grade and "the real deal."

Newmismatist

<< <i>Lakes- Your Eliasberg J193 and J212 have both been erasered! I think you should dump them on some unsuspecting collector like, say...... me! >>



So Boiler, when you pry them out of Lakesammman's ridged fingers, whattya gonna do? Use a little 0000 steel wool to even out the toning?

Lakesammman

Here....take them....they're yours.....just cut and paste!

puff

Hard to use an eraser through PCGS plastic.

DanC

Andy,

Do you by chance have any close-up photos of these?
I'd be very interested to see them.

boiler78

Lakes- In the interest of history, one or the other of should give up their Eliasberg small cent patterns and move one step closer to putting the original set back together. Since I currently have more of them than you, I think it is only fair that you go first!

keets

hey Andy

my total Eliasberg experience is a few coins i've seen at shows and online auctions along with pictures posted here by members and sometimes discussed. it behooves me why his collection isn't treated a bit more realistically, a point made earlier in the thread by BillJones. the importance of his collection and his influence on present day collectors surely wouldn't suffer from the possible knowledge that either he or some previous owner of his coins may have cared for them in a way which we find unacceptable, yet one which was proper in that day.

al h.

1jester

Good point keets. That's probably why some of the current owners are treating them as we do today---by dipping the heck out of them.

dorkkarl

<< <i>Many of Eliasberg's toned silver coins had a number of tiny bright spots in the toning. ... a touch lighter and there appeared to be a mild disturbance in the luster. ...I imagined how Louis Eliasberg carefully removing spots from his coins with a tiny eraser. >>

mighty big jump from "tiny bright spots in the toning" to cleaning w/ an eraser.

i'd say you were being paranoid. if you liked the coin, you should of bought it.

K S

MrEureka

i'd say you were being paranoid. if you liked the coin, you should of bought it.

Eliasberg had lots of coins. I bought more than a handful, including the 1817/4 and 1838-O half dollars, both of which I liked quite a lot, thank you. None of my purchases had the "tiny bright spots".

dorkkarl

i happen to like tiny bright spots!

K S

MrEureka

i happen to like tiny bright spots!

Buy an eraser, bake a potato, grab a pile of coins, a bottle of scotch and a fine cigar, and knock yourself out!

dorkkarl

<< <i>Buy an eraser, bake a potato, grab a pile of coins, a bottle of scotch and a fine cigar, and knock yourself out >>

ok, but how do you get tiny bright spots to show up on baked potato's???

K S

ClausUrch

<< <i>ok, but how do you get tiny bright spots to show up on baked potato's??? >>



Down the bottle of Scotch in "one fell swoop"!