Bust H10c conservation
logger7
Posts: 8,522 ✭✭✭✭✭
I asked our competitor's conservation people to conserve this H10c: 
Some lingering spots were there, shouldn't those have been removable? I'm assuming a common variety for a H10c.
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Yes! Wonder why they didn't catch it.
Actually I didn't see any difference. I had done my best to conserve it with the "Conserv" product and a diluted application of EZest. I thought they had better methods.
Just magnified the photo. Only you know what it originally looked like. This coin needs to be cracked an "spot conserved." I'll bet one of the rookies is doing the work at this time as the best guy they have is helping with the world coins. He does the valuable stuff.
There are. IMHO, This "conservation job" is pathetic! PM me tomorrow. I'm going to speak with "our mutual friend" at the no-respect service.
Your half dime is an example of the 1835 LM-2/V8 Large Date, Large 5C die marriage, an R4 marriage. As a current R4, it is perhaps 'scarce', but certainly not rare, and thus perhaps not worth the cost to 'conserve'. If your picture is of the 'conserved' specimen, I would suggest that any money spent on the conservation would have been better spent poured down the drain.
@logger7 I love the "expert" advanced collectors here. They can teach us so much. You just got your coin attributed for free!
I'm probably a lot like you, what the coin looks like is more important to me than its value or rarity. I don't like spots. Perhaps a better job would have been worth the cost you paid for conservation.
And Mr Half Dime is an EXPERT on half dimes and drains!
Have him tell you the story sometime.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
That conserve process was certainly lacking.... Though probably not worth the investment for resale, if the beauty of the coin is your interest, then you may want to pursue further efforts. Cheers, RickO
I'm going to resurrect this thread, with apologies, to tell this story. The "drain" incident that @BustDMs mentioned is a story that I'm now familiar with, as I helped Dr. Glenn Peterson prepare a talk for Winter FUN 2024 that features this anecdote... and then when Glenn was unable to go to FUN, I even presented a snippet of it to an audience. So I am reprinting Glenn's words, but I don't think he'd mind. The setting is a hotel room during a big coin show, and the players are Russ Logan (one of the authors of the Half Dime book), Steve Crain (MrHalfDime), and Glenn with others (perhaps including @BustDMS?) nearby. Glenn writes:
"Several collectors who liked the bust half dimes were scouting out a place to view these smaller coins. Steve Crain found the only light available – in the bathroom. So, the three of us crowded around the bathroom light. Now in these days very few coins were encapsulated. Steve opened a 2x2 envelope to see one of the coins. As he did it slipped out of his hands into the sink. It spun around three times and as we unsuccessfully grabbed for the coin it fell down the drain. Now, what engineer to call to save the day? Russ Logan of course. Russ got under the sink, disconnected the trap and handed it up while he awaited the extraction of the coin. Steve pulled out the coin along with a clump of hair and goo. He rescued the coin but now had goo on his hand. What to do, of course wash off the good right down the open sink on Russ’ head. A shriek from Russ finally led to raucous laughter."
And I'd like to ask @logger7 how this particular 1835 LM-2 ended up? Did you conserve it? As MrHalfDime noted above in his post, that marriage in 2017 was an R4. In 2024, it's still an R4 - and I've found it to be among the scarcest R4 marriages in the series! I started building my set of capped bust half dimes in April 2020, with the intent to capture all die marriage and remarriages (what is now a 124-coin set, although PCGS still registers only 123). Getting an example of all 92 of the marriages is a major milestone, and I reached that milestone 3 days shy of the two-year anniversary of my first half dime--by FINALLY finding an example of the 1835 LM-2.
So, while I agree that the coin here didn't turn out all that well - it's still kinda cool to have an LM-2 in mint state!
New website: Groovycoins.com Capped Bust Half Dime registry set: Bikergeek CBHD LM Set
Thanks for the feedback. I don't exactly remember the whole story on this, though I could dig it out and would not have dipped the coin if it would have straight graded or had eye appeal. Likely a very dark coin before.
@Bikergeek
Yes, I was there in the bathroom "assisting" Logan by handing him the "tool" he used on the drain...a washcloth to get a better grip. I was also the one who stepped in a big wet spot the next morning as he did not reattach the drain correctly and we had a leak!
Maybe someday other stories will come out like the fire alarm in Denver and the bathtub filled with Beer and Wine.....
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
Funny story LOL.
Now about the Conservation. Overal the NGS and PCGS do an acceptable job for the price they ask. In order to understand that they do a acceptable job, I will present you here a base of my conservation chart. This it is very lite chart list. So for around 50$, please do not expect to be museum kind. Also took in consideration that my cheaper solute, powder in small quantity is over 300$/ 100 ml (gr). Do you think that the graders do all those activities for 50 bucks?
NEVER ARGUE WITH AN IDIOT.
FIRST THEY WILL DRAG YOU DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL.
THEN, THEY WILL BEAT YOU WITH EXPERIENCE.
MARK TWAIN
Water is a good start.
Poster should have sent the H10c to me!
@silviosi I like that you chose the word "pathogens!"
New website: Groovycoins.com Capped Bust Half Dime registry set: Bikergeek CBHD LM Set
The last one you did for me Skip, was the 1921 Peace dollar that graded MS63. I sent you another one, a civil war token with a surface issue or corrosion, probably beyond recall.
Unfortunately without a prior conversation with the conservation department, and I'm not sure how willing they are to follow "custom" conservation methods, what I've seen with conservation on silver is a quick EZest dip, so the whole coin has uniform shininess. If you want a custom job you have to know what you're doing and do it yourself.
By the way, Skip said that NGC has better chemicals and methods, any idea what they actually are??
Yes and they are proprietary. Anyone interested in conservation can find information on the internet. Real conservation is not a "dip job." I'll post some step by step information for educational purposes in a new discussion if PCGS allows it. Until then, here is a link that shows what conservation can do but it usually is time consuming. That's why the TPGS charge so much.
I cannot post the link as it contains the names of TPGS. Look up TPG Conservation of Nickel Coinage on Coin Talk Forum. As I wrote above, if the Mods do not delete this post I'll give members some tips to get started. Nevertheless, rather than possibly ruining a coin, all the major TPGS except CACG offer conservation.
Great to hear Russ Logan stories.
Perhaps best that could be done. Looks Nice.