How NOT to label your coins.

cmerlo1

A friend of mine bought 5 of these halves from the local B&M a while back. A few of them would probably grade, except that long, long ago someone decided to write numbers on them with a fountain pen. I know it was a fountain pen because the nib scratched the coins in the shape of the numbers- you can see it in places where the ink has come off. Speaking of ink coming off, acetone has no effect on it...

lordmarcovan

I had an otherwise lovely Darkside coin that had an old India ink museum number in the field, once, but it wasn't that egregious, and not scratched in! Yow.



Do you suppose that was done in commerce, like in a bank, rather than by a collector? It's certainly old school and the ink notations may be almost as old as the coins themselves.

cmerlo1

Originally posted by: lordmarcovan
I had an otherwise lovely Darkside coin that had an old India ink museum number in the field, once, but it wasn't that egregious, and not scratched in! Yow.

Do you suppose that was done in commerce, like in a bank, rather than by a collector? It's certainly old school and the ink notations may be almost as old as the coins themselves.

I almost wonder if it isn't pricing, maybe from an old-time dealer. The 1860 looks to have 1.00 on it and the 1858 could be .95.

lkeigwin

Originally posted by: cmerlo1

Originally posted by: lordmarcovan

I had an otherwise lovely Darkside coin that had an old India ink museum number in the field, once, but it wasn't that egregious, and not scratched in! Yow.



Do you suppose that was done in commerce, like in a bank, rather than by a collector? It's certainly old school and the ink notations may be almost as old as the coins themselves.

I almost wonder if it isn't pricing, maybe from an old-time dealer. The 1860 looks to have 1.00 on it and the 1858 could be .95.

That was my thought too. But I'd never heard of anyone doing such a crazy thing. Write on the envelope or flip, for crying' out loud. Wait...maybe it leaked through the envelope? Nah, you said the nib scratched the coin.

Lance.

TomB

Fountain pen nibs typically aren't that thick and most fountain pen inks don't write well on metal. Also, fountain pen inks are usually water-based, which would make removal relatively easy. However, India ink is a more permanent form of fountain pen ink and that may have been used. Truly, to me these don't look like they were put on the coins by fountain pen, but if you have the nib tracings on them, too, then that is an argument for fountain pen usage.

david3142

No problem. Those'll buff right out!

roadrunner

Stacks-Bowers had a small group of MS62-65 1859-s halves last year with similar markings on the obv or reverse. They were still very nice looking and fresh coins.

ricko

It certainly does look like .95 and 1.00....perhaps they were sold at a flea market.... junk sellers usually know very little about coins.... Cheers, RickO

jesbroken

At this photo magnification I cannot see a scratch following the writing and I would bet this was a dealer who marked it with a magic marker. JMO

Jim

kaz

Could have been done with a professional drawing pen, like a Rapidograph (remember those?)

crazyhounddog

Originally posted by: TomB
Fountain pen nibs typically aren't that thick and most fountain pen inks don't write well on metal. Also, fountain pen inks are usually water-based, which would make removal relatively easy. However, India ink is a more permanent form of fountain pen ink and that may have been used. Truly, to me these don't look like they were put on the coins by fountain pen, but if you have the nib tracings on them, too, then that is an argument for fountain pen usage.

I agree with it being India ink. It don't wanna come off. It also looks like one of them says 1.00, like its a price. If that's the case it's laughable.