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A question about the sniffer and Copper..what gives...

There was a lot of hope(?) about the "Sniffer" and if it had abilities to determined messed with copper. Especially copper of color. But all I am seeing and reading here (and other forums) is that copper of any color, is STILL not getting graded. So what is it PCGS??? is the sniffer unable to smell out messed with copper???. Inquiring minds want to know!
WS
WS
Proud recipient of the coveted PCGS Forum "You Suck" Award Thursday July 19, 2007 11:33 PM and December 30th, 2011 at 8:50 PM.
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so what is there to sniff with regards to color if nothing has been left on the coin?
It doesn't detect problems with color. It sniffs for traces of specific substances that might be used to alter the appearance or surface of a coin.
Lance.
one video regarding the sniffer for those that haven't seen it or haven't seen it in a while
i think i have one more. i'll get to diggin
.
yep, here is another great video about the sniffer
i have these in my database but linked from youtube
.
WS
Interesting videos, thanks for the links. Firstly, let's not think in terms of sniffing. I didn't see any indication that the analyzer uses smell, or vapor to identify any of the contaminants that might be on the coin.
A reference is made to infrared analysis and the scale on the readout is absorbance vs. wavelength, which is indeed an infrared analyzer. Infrared is not as sensitive to the level of contamination as some other methods, so it is possible that the threshold must be set at an optimum level, which may miss some things which may affect copper.
Infrared is pretty good at identification, though. When there is a match, as long as the standard is similar to what's actually on the coin, it would be fairly expedient to build a computer database to assist in finding messed-with coins.
I noticed the bottle of Blue Ribbon which is being used as a standard. I've never heard anything negative about the effects of Blue Ribbon, so I would ask whether a trace of Blue Ribbon (or Coin Care) would work against a coin being certified.
I knew it would happen.