Old cleaning but why light gray?

BIGAL2749

My birthday present to myself when I turned 50.
Apparently cleaned in the past but what accords for the white gray color?

jedm

Sorry I don't know the answer to your question, but happy birthday! She looks nice.

COINS MAKE CENTS

Cleaned or not that's a very nice coin!

learningcoins

I know many shy away from cleaned coins, but for the rarity and eye appeal of that one, I completely understand your purchasing. Happy Birthday!

ricko

It would appear (once again, judging from pictures) that there is a residue from some type of immersion (be it spill, dip, storage, etc.) ....A coin that old could have been through anything and/or everything. Nice coin... Cheers, RickO

steveben

i don't know what cause that color. i have seen it on other coins. i assume it's some type of reaction to another chemical, but what, i don't know.

that would be a great coin to handle raw. in fact, it would only improve it i think, as long as you are careful with it and don't leave it in your pockets when you wash them or something like that.

asheland

My guess is a lot of dirt and crust was acetoned away.
Not technically cleaned in my opinion.

asheland

Great coin by the way!

AMRC

That coin was cleaned more than once. Each time the new doctor probably trying to undo what the previous one did incorrectly.

PTVETTER

Sooo many older coins have been cleaned, however some were done very badly while others were just lightly cleaned and may today be market acceptable.

davewesen

@asheland said:
My guess is a lot of dirt and crust was acetoned away.
Not technically cleaned in my opinion.

I agree, I suspect there used to be black gunk there that got removed with acetone / cotton swab

LanLord

one heck of a half century present.

lkeigwin

Wow! Nice present for yourself!
Lance.

BillJones

Gray is a natural color for toned silver. It is the most desirable color according to the experts. Given proper storage the gray color will hold, at least for a lifetime. Improper storage will allow the toning to continue until the coin turns black. REALLY improper storage can even give you green spots from the copper in the alloy.

This rare old half dollar was probably polished many years ago. The gray is retoning. If the surfaces of the piece had not been moved from the cleaning, some would call it "original surfaces" now.

BTW Great Coin no matter what people might say about the "details" grade. This was the last silver coin I needed for my type set. The one I have, a 1796 half dollar, was cleaned too, but not so badly as to result in a "details" grade. It pulled a Fine-15. I would have preferred a VF coin that matched my 1796 Quarter, but when it comes to these pieces, you kind of have to take what you can get unless you are ready to pay a 6 figure amount.

BIGAL2749

Two points that I didn't properly get across.

50th birthday was 18 years ago!

Also the coin is not in a details holder but a VG10 old green holder.

Again poor pics of the coin

jedm

Ah, as the late Paul Harvey would have said, "Now for the rest of the story..." Actually I find it more interesting that those points came out later rather than earlier.

BillJones

Although my example is toned, it's not original. It's had some skin removed at one point.

For those collectors who are not familiar with this type, an example with very little detail and lots of problems can set you back close to $10,000. One of the first examples I saw in the 1980s had been cleaned, graded Fair for sharpness and had a hole. That didn't stop the dealer from wanting $8,500 for it.

lkenefic

Thanks for showing excellent examples of this very rare type.

CoinPhysicist

Definitely enjoy seeing these. Beautiful circulated examples of an extreme rarity.

The most recent AG/Fair example I see is 'Dick Osburn Rare Coins fixed price list (December 2012), AG/Fair, $22,950' listed here: https://www.ha.com/information/bust-half-dollars-book.s?type=surl-jonamato.

The back is basically slick and the front has ag/fair detailing. Asking nearly $23k.

Nic

Baking soda.