Is it wrong to "Doctor" an already cleaned coin?

mbbiker

I read the whole post about holed coins and if its ok to fill the hole or not and it got me thinking...

Lets say your offered an 1893-s morgan with AU details but has hairlines from a harsh cleaning... Is it unethical to use it as a pocket piece until signs of the cleaning are worn away and you now have yourself a vf/xf morgan dollar that looks to be problem free or would you have to disclose it's been cleaned even though it would just be showing honest signs of wear after a year or so in your pocket?

commoncents05

Carrying a coin as a pocket piece is not doctoring it.

-Paul

Billet7

Let the dead horse beating begin.

Let's say for the sake of argument that you put the same coin in a small manila envelope for a little while, which imparts toning on the coin. Is this doctoring? Lets suppose that two people do this, one is aware that the toning will occur, the other is not. Will one be considered a coin doctor, and the other held blameless of doctoring his coin?

In the end, don't mess with coins in order to screw other people, be they grading companies or the next schmuck you convince to buy the coin. It isn't as much about fixing coins, it's about people getting hosed! They are buying one thing, but in reality it is something else. The last thing you're gonna want is your full head standing liberty quarter to have her face fall off in a couple years.

If everyone would stop trying to hose people through deceit, then coin doctoring would be a moot point.


JMHO, Have a nice day!

WoodenJefferson

Having carried a pocket piece for many years, you'd be surprised at just how long it would take to eventually get a lower grade surface. Now, take that same coin with the same conditions and put it in a rock tumbler for 4 hours...to me that would constitute deceitful accelerating doctoring.

AMRC

What if you filled the tumbler with silver coins?

Bear

It is OK to doctor a clean coin, if it has a high fever and is coughing and sneezing.

MrEureka

Is it wrong to "Doctor" an already cleaned coin?

It's only wrong if you make the coin look better.

Cam40

It's only wrong if you make the coin look better

exactly

rlarick

<< <i>Lets say your offered an 1893-s morgan with AU details but has hairlines from a harsh cleaning... Is it unethical to use it as a pocket piece until signs of the cleaning are worn away and you now have yourself a vf/xf morgan dollar that looks to be problem free >>




Can't offer you a 93-s But I can do a 94. Grade says repaired, I say with what? a brillo pad?

adamlaneus

<sarcasm>Oh I bet a little whizzing will clean that shiny coin right up. A little cheek frost. Good as new. Better!</sarcasm>


[edit: Sarcasm tag added]

TUMUSS

It is ALWAYS wrong to doctor a coin.

Baley

Absolute statements that contain words like ALWAYS (especially shouted in all CAPS!) are never correct.

for example, one could counter the assertion, "a person may always do as he pleases with his own property" with any number of absurd exceptions to disprove the rule

adamlaneus

Okay:

Once a coin has been manipulated in any way, it's NEVER going to be original again.

JRocco

<< <i>Is it wrong to "Doctor" an already cleaned coin?

It's only wrong if you make the coin look better. >>



Isn't it funny.
Sometimes you just have to scratch your head Andy

crazyhounddog

A pocket piece is just fine, for goodness sakes. This whole thing about calling a pocket piece a Doctored coin is just ridiculous. Even Q. David Bowers has done the same thing with a coin , and then lost it in a taxicab, I read an article about this. So since when is a pocket piece a "Doctored coin"?

dogwood

I'm betting there are those who've found ways to remove hairlines from coins without detection short of pocketing for 3 years or rock tumbling for 3 hours as the posters have suggested.
We're humans, we can figure out how to do this stuff.
If I'd just spent 5K for a straight holdered example of that 93-s and never suspected it because it's surfaces were, in fact, free of hairlines, and it looked normal to the graders and all observers, and it made me happy to behold, where's the bother?
Once it passes scrutiny of professional surveyors, is it not simply, a coin?
Situational ethics, perhaps, but realistically, surfaces are surfaces now, not what they were.

MikeInFL

<< <i>Absolute statements that contain words like ALWAYS (especially shouted in all CAPS!) are never correct. >>



In fairness, Bailey, and by applying the same logic, absolute statements that contain words like "never" are generally incorrect.

That said, and for what it's worth, I agree with your disagreement with the post you were responding to.

MikeInFL

Back to the topic at hand...

While I'm not sure I would do it, I see nothing "wrong" with the example the OP offered. However, I think the fact that the coin has been intentionally worn to remove hairlines SHOULD be disclosed to the next owner (and the next owner, et al.).

The more that I think about these issues, I think disclosure (and some type of enforcement of non-disclosure) may be used as one of the weapons against doctoring.