I am buying a collection.....

ormandh

and al the coins have been cleaned. My question is how do I evaluate the values? All of the coins are 1860-1890. Most are AU and some are some really desirable coins according to Krause. Some are silver and ther are a few gold, but the majority are copper or brass. I can see some hairlining on some of the coins, but others seem to be uncirculated with some fine striated lines(don't seem to be hairlines) in the metal. I wish that I had pics, but I will not be able to see the coins again until next week. Would any of you buy a set like this? Thanks. -dan

wybrit

What country or countries are represented?

Personally, I would steer clear of cleaned coins.

ormandh

Pretty much everything. There are probably 200 coins, all collected by a man who was in the US Navy in the late 19th century. I know that it could possibly not be a good move, but the coins are well struck and have very little wear. I am not sure that every coin has been cleaned. I was only able to spend 20 min. looking through the collection.

The countries that were represented were China, Canada, Brazil, Austria, some Middle Eastern, Austrailia, Switzerland, etc....

harasha

If you have an auction catalogue, check to see how much a coin is estimated at when cleaned, compared to a non-cleaned evaluation.
Stacks recently completed a mail bid auction, where several foreign coins were cleaned. The estimates are lower.

There is a role for cleaned coins, especially when you need a filler, or a coin that is particularly rare and otherwise out of your financial reach; a type coin, if you will.

tbirde56

I'd give cleaned coins an automatic 50% cut in value. Some collectors, such as in Brazil, clean their coins to 'improve' them though.

Aethelred

You can't pay too little for cleaned coins!

historygeek

Well, it depends if the coins are harshly cleaned. Hairlines and cleaned copper coins deprecate the value of coins alot. If a toned silver coin is cleaned non-harshly, with something like Mr. Clean, then no one will really notice...

satootoko

<< <i>others seem to be uncirculated with some fine striated lines(don't seem to be hairlines) in the metal. >>

Next time you get access to the coins look carefully at those lines with a loupe. This is a case where more than 5X would be a good idea. If they are raised rather than incuse, they may be die polishing marks, which do not affect the value at all. Good luck!