Ever dip a gold coin?

techeff

I'm against dipping coins in general, but I was just curious if anyone here has ever dipped a gold coin and what the results were? And how the results were different from dipping a silver coin? TIA!

kranky

I've never done it, but I've seen plenty that were dipped. They look a little "off".

Scavenger

That may be why you get such a variance on colors with gold coins -

magikbilly

Hi,
if the dispersion of alloyed metal is uneven I suppose you might get some strange color variances. Besides, isn't gold usually cut with about 10% copper ? We all know how that dips out...

Best,
Billy

tjkillian

But doesn't silver coin also contain 10% copper? I've never heard of folks having copper issues with silver coins, only gold. Interesting....

Tom

lordmarcovan

Yes. I did it. I had a 1901 $10 in an ANACS MS63 holder that was grubby looking. I wanted to use the coin in my then-Registry set, so I cracked it and applied a Q-Tip with diluted jeweluster to the affected areas. (It was not a total-immersion dip job). I vastly improved the coin's eye appeal, and it had nice cartwheel luster that showed better after I had removed whatever grunge was on the coin.

Off it went to PCGS, and I kept my fingers crossed. It came back in a slab and not a bodybag, so I was able to use it in my set, but the results were a bit disappointing: PCGS MS61. I don't know if PCGS downgraded it as a result of my "curation" or not. To my eyes it had nice enough fields and surfaces to warrant an MS63 grade.

That was an unlucky coin. It was later stolen from my dealer case at the mall by a corrupt employee, along with a pretty prooflike gold dollar.

(BTW, the cert number on the PCGS MS61 $10 is 21046183. On the gold dollar, which was an 1873 ANACS MS60 PL, it is 979275. They were stolen in January of 2003 and never recovered.)

Edited to add an important point: the coin I cleaned by the method above did NOT have copper spots. I was reasonably confident I would be able to remove the blackish streaky gunk. Had the spots looked like copper spots, I would've left it alone. (Or maybe tried NCS, but I don't think they existed then.)

coinguy89

That really stinks LM, I hope you get them back someday.

lordmarcovan

I rather doubt it, but you never know. They were not worth a huge sum of money, but enough to sting. Interestingly, the thief left some other gold in the case- there was a PCGS MS66 gold sovereign right next to the stolen pair. Apparently he didn't like Darkside stuff.

(Actually, this was because I interrupted him in the act of stealing the coins, but I did not realize this until later). I know who did it but have no proof.

coinkat

DON'T

MICHAELDIXON

I've dipped several and had no problem with a change of color. The ones I've dipped and sent in have been slabbed without being downgraded. I used E-Z est that has been diluted with 50% water, applied with a Q-tip and rinsed with Palmolive.

Veep

What Michael said. No problems whatsoever.