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What's the best way to straighten a coin with a slight bend?

PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,797 ✭✭✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum
Also, would a properly straightened coin be slabable?

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

Comments

  • ormandhormandh Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
    Use two pieces of wood and a hammer. -Dan
    Numismasource ebay store
  • BroadstruckBroadstruck Posts: 30,497 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Between a heavy leather belt in a vise... in the ole days they'd use a hammer.
    To Err Is Human.... To Collect Err's Is Just Too Much Darn Tootin Fun!
  • ormandhormandh Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭
    What kind of coin is it? -dan
    Numismasource ebay store
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,552 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's not a coin that needs to get straitened out. It's a head.

    Just kidding PerryHall.
    I have an 1890 CC Morgan that has a slight bend. I just figured it would forever stay that way image

    ``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The leather belt is a good suggestion - it should avoid any surface alteration. Of course, if the bend has already caused alteration, then do not waste your time. Cheers, RickO
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,797 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>What kind of coin is it? -dan >>



    Nothing in particular. Just a general question. I was remembering an 1867 $2 1/2 gold coin with a slight bend but I got rid of it several years ago. The bend wasn't noticable in hand but when you put it on a flat surface, you could see that it had a slight bend in it.

    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

  • MrHalfDimeMrHalfDime Posts: 3,440 ✭✭✭✭
    Although I have never tried this myself, I have heard for many years that the 'proper' method to straighten a coin is to place it between two pieces of thick leather with the bend up, then place a block of wood on top of the leather and gently hit the wood block with a hammer. As stated, the leather will absorb some of the localized force, preventing dents, but will allow the coin to be straightened. Of course, this has always been related to me in discussions of half dimes - very thin and fragile coins; I have no idea how it might work with a silver dollar or other large denomination.
    They that can give up essential Liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither Liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin
  • ArizonaJackArizonaJack Posts: 4,029 ✭✭✭
    belt in a vice works best....
    " YOU SUCK " Awarded 5/18/08
  • BECOKABECOKA Posts: 16,961 ✭✭✭
    Would that be slabbed by ANACs as unbent? image
  • UnknownUnknown
    This content has been removed.
  • curlycurly Posts: 2,880 ✭
    Lay that sucker out on the sidewalk. Take a twelve pound hammer on a six foot switch handle. Raise that hammer back till it touches your heels then......WHAM. Do that four times.
    Every man is a self made man.
  • sumnomsumnom Posts: 5,963 ✭✭✭
    Make sure that sledgehammer is a wafflehead.
  • gripgrip Posts: 9,962 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Do you live near any train tracksimage



    Al
  • 57loaded57loaded Posts: 4,967 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Lay that sucker out on the sidewalk. Take a twelve pound hammer on a six foot switch handle. Raise that hammer back till it touches your heels then......WHAM. Do that four times. >>



    then turn the coin over and repeat, or until flat
  • BearBear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
    The leather and a vise works best. If you use a hammer

    on the coin ,you risk increasing the diameter of the coin due

    to excessive force.
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • dorkkarldorkkarl Posts: 12,691 ✭✭✭


    << <i>The leather and a vise works best. >>

    bear is correct. do not use a hammer. that's old fashion & not very controllable.

    you should have very good success w/a vise & leather padding, or vinyl, whatever.

    K S
  • DeadhorseDeadhorse Posts: 3,720 ✭


    << <i>Between a heavy leather belt in a vise... in the ole days they'd use a hammer. >>



    You are exactly correct.

    I used to use soft wood blocks, but found the heavy leather to produce perfect results.

    This only works with slightly bent coins.

    Anything that has been severely bent will distort the coin and even when straightened out, it will look pretty bad.
    "Lenin is certainly right. There is no subtler or more severe means of overturning the existing basis of society(destroy capitalism) than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
    John Marnard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920, page 235ff
  • coolestcoolest Posts: 2,281 ✭✭✭
    Sell the coin and buy one that is undamaged.
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,797 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Once you use the leather belt and vice / hammer trick, will any traces of the bend be totally removed and can you then get it slabbed?

    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

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,797 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Sell the coin and buy one that is undamaged. >>



    Why sell it if it can be straightened and the bend removed? Also, what have you got to lose by trying other than a few minutes of your time?

    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

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,720 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't believe it is possible to straighten a coin beyond someone's ability to detect it. Even the slightest bends tend to leave a little evidence. The best way is to grip it by the parts that aren't bent and visually straighten it. With large coins this is pretty difficult because of the force required. A vise, wooden blocks, and leather and judicious use of a hammer are probably the only bet.

    I have seen some coins that had been very well done but I think the grading services would catch just about everything.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • moosesrmoosesr Posts: 1,966 ✭✭✭
    Rubber hammer.
  • curlycurly Posts: 2,880 ✭

    Awright brothers, lets think about this for a moment. What happens when you bend a coin? One side stretches apart and the details are distorted. On the other side the details are compressed. Straightening out the coin isn't going to magically put the damaged details back together again.

    The coin has been bent and no amount of straightening is going to take away the damage.
    Every man is a self made man.
  • DeadhorseDeadhorse Posts: 3,720 ✭


    << <i>Awright brothers, lets think about this for a moment. What happens when you bend a coin? One side stretches apart and the details are distorted. On the other side the details are compressed. Straightening out the coin isn't going to magically put the damaged details back together again.

    The coin has been bent and no amount of straightening is going to take away the damage. >>



    As I said earlier, it all depends on the initial bend.

    If the bend was slight, you can put it back such that it isn't detectable.

    If the coin is worth slabbing, I'm sure it would slab.

    It's all about the degree of bend to start with.

    Your point is absolutely true if the initial bend caused any sort of distortion. That is something you can't fix.
    "Lenin is certainly right. There is no subtler or more severe means of overturning the existing basis of society(destroy capitalism) than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
    John Marnard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920, page 235ff

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