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Edited title--green stuff in slab, now the rest of the story.
Stork
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Am I wrong? And any chance this can be 'conserved' without the coin losing it's character? Overall it's a way better coin than my current one. It arrived in the mail today and I don't want to send it back to the dealer. And, to be honest, I only noticed them once I started trying to take a picture. Looking at the PCGS shot (cert # 33548396) I think I can make them out, so maybe it's not what I think it is???
Has anyone here used the guarantee service/conservation service? I don't want the coin ruined, either by doing nothing or by doing something.
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Had the same type of spot. It was removed without notice or impacting the overall look.
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An acetone bath should take that right off with no harmful effects to the surfaces or toning.
It's in a PCGS slab, correct? How much will it cost to have PCGS remove it?
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Yep, in the PCGS slab or I'd be acetoning it first. Just concerned after a comment on the other thread about a coin coming back dipped out if 'conserved'.
Do you have to be a paying member with PCGS to send in on the guarantee? Only thing I'd taken care of was a label error and I dropped it at a show. Easy. Funny thing at that show I had the exact same problem in an ATS slab too. Both companies were excellent about it.
Guess I can call Monday.
I had positive results with PCGS guaranteed resubmission, except it took 6 calendar months to get it back.
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6 months? Yikes! Sounds like it's necessary, but did I mention YIKES?
Sadly that indeed looks like PVC
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I wouldn't mess with it, the rest of the toning will get destroyed if you do, and it will look like any one of a thousand other examples all of which are worth a fraction of what you paid for this coin. If you have $750 in the coin and it gets screwed-up, you'll be left with a coin worth about $45 at best.
Even more important from a pride of ownership vantage...,,, It took me several years to figure out something about PVC damage and digital photography. For some reason unbeknownst to me, every digital camera I have ever shot coins with (about 6 different cameras over 17 years) has always had hypersensitivity to the specific color wavelength produced by PVC damage. And much like you observed, damage that was not visible with the naked eye seems to launch off the coin when viewed in a digital photograph. My advice would be to use photo editing software to make the spots look like they do in hand, --that is, almost imperceptible.
I paid a premium, but not quite that high thank goodness. My concern is though it's only a tiny bit of the surface involved, it might continue to be active and cause progressive changes. You are exactly right I don't want the overall look messed with.
It really was tempting to crack it out and just wash it with acetone myself. But, looking closely at the official PCGS glamour shot, the tiny flecks are visible there too so why not let them do the acetone. I've heard positive feedback about their ability to conserve this sort of thing without just dipping away.
Besides, for better or worse, it's in a top pop slab and I don't want to lose that by trying my own acetone bath.
My thought was to have them look at it...if it's a stable thing and I'm over analyzing, don't mess with it. If it's only going to get dipped out, don't mess with it. If they can pop it open, do an equivalent of an acetone bath and leave it otherwise unmolested then go for it.
The guarantee does NOT cover pvc in the slab that shows up later apparently, but once you look at the cert photo you can see it there too, so I'm 'assuming' they can take care of it. I once did a similar thing with NCS years ago and they did exactly that...still with natural tone and greeny stuff gone.
Much to think about for a coin like this!
I think I would just keep an eye on it. The spots look like hard spots that are not active to me. I doubt acetone would remove them.
Well, here is the rest of the story. I actually ended up sending this coin back to get looked at under the guarantee. I was a little surprised as they declined to do anything after seeing the True Views.
Tonight I finally had my slab-cracker do his job, and gave an acetone bath to it. A little agitation and a little gentle persuasion with a garden thorn to flip off a couple flecks and the green is gone. Dots/toning etc. remain intact, but a no harm improvement I think. The underlying surfaces look fine.
It was a bit nerve wracking--the coin was in a 67 slab but I hated the green dots.
Hadn't planned on crossing it, but now that it's liberated I supposed I can send it ATS so it can be an upgrade to my set over there--I wasn't going to chase the registry over with this coin, but now I might as well see how it does.
I had a bit of lighting difference between the sides, but overall this is the coin, naked of all plastic
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Well done Cathy!
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Cathy - PCGS may put it back in a 67 holder since you have TruView images of the coin.
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Maybe so. I had no intention of crossing it, but now it's naked there is a certain allure to adding it to my set over there (PCGS doesn't have an Albanian minor set, I could get a respectable start on one if they did as I try not to discriminate based on plastic).
Plus it would irk me to have to pay to get it put back in the same plastic it just got taken out of. Now that it's cracked I'm REALLY sure they won't do much about it without me paying to submit it. Oh well. It's good to know I could do it myself.
Well done!
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I think you have made the right choice. Those spots would have bugged me as well. Especially on such a high grade coin.
And the final outcome: it's gone from a 67 PCGS slab to (a top pop) 66 NGC slab and has entered my registry over there. It was worth it to get the PVC off.
I've got another project coin with a similar story now, only the PVC is more pronounced. It was an overseas auction buy and there is no question of trying a return. I really don't buy things to cross them over, but if I'm cracking them, they will go ATS to upgrade my set if that's a factor.
I wish PCGS would do a minor Albanian set though. How does one go about requesting that? I won't duplicate the gold coins, but I've got enough minors that I could start...and maybe I'd cross some of my dupes this direction. I'd like to be an equal opportunity slab-o-phile.
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