WHAT THE...???!?!?!

ASUtodd

Copper Coin Darkener
Jesus as if things weren't bad enough. I personally have never seen this stuff before but I thought, wow, someone can clean their coins and then coat them in this and pass them off as legit... Maybe someone has tried this and sees a good side to this product that I am missing.
Todd

satootoko

It's probably relabeled Dellers Darkener, which is commonly used on refinished copper/brass/bronze hardware to give it an "antiqued" look.

Deliberately tarnishing coins with the stuff is sickening!

Sapyx

Dellers Darkener is often used on ancient bronze/copper coins that have been cleaned a bit too harshly.

ccrdragon

with some experience, it's not too hard to spot copper that has been cleaned and then re-toned with the darkner. one of the obvious give-aways is that the color of the coin tends to be absolutely uniform across the surfaces (something that does not happen when a coin tones naturally). also, the color sometimes is darker where there is lettering or other raised devices on the coin - which is the exact opposite of what one would expect from natural toning since these areas are protected from wear and contact and are usually the last areas to tone. also, for the higher grade coppers, the cleaning process itself destroys the luster of the coin (a dead giveaway). and, in my experience, coins that have been recolored with darkner also lose thier luster - another giveaway on high-grade (AU and above) coins. I don't know why the darkner hides the luster and toning does not, but my experience is that darkened coins do not even have muted luster as one would expect from a high grade red-brown or brown copper.

you would need to look at a lot of copper to get the eye for this, but as with most things in this hobby, it comes with experience.

but to address the OP's comment - Deller's has been used for years and was an accepted practice to 'conserve' older copper.

laurentyvan

Copper coins are some of the most interesting coins you can collect, huge coppers are very popular...

A cleaned copper can be easily spotted, usually (as CCdragon relates) with even or uniform toning as the telltale. But, look for shiny surfaces (original crud does not reflect light the same way a cleaned surface does).

Also look for shades of color that are reminiscent of silver, tones of which don't show on uncleaned copper examples but do on cleaned copper.

Silver and copper can be appropriately cleaned with acetone without removing an original patina.

In other words, if there is doubt, there is no doubt.

satootoko

<< <i>coins that have been recolored with darkner also lose thier luster . . . I don't know why the darkner hides the luster >>

It is quite acidic.

SYRACUSIAN

I've seen cleaned copper coins that are very hard to detect, some are left for a decade or more to retone if they are valuable. I believe that it's possible to doctor copper just as well as silver with the proper knowledge and liquids, and fool practically everybody. Experts included, which is why they often bodybag undoctored/uncleaned copper coins, just because they are in doubt.


In the Berlin Money Fair, the booth that was selling dips and the likes had litterally sold out at the end of the first day of the show. The only remaining liquid they had was a dip for gold.