The perils of cleaning your coins
Nap
Posts: 1,754 ✭✭✭✭✭
I posted this in the world section, but thought it might have interest here as well since it relates to general collecting:
Recently picked up an early British Anglo-Saxon coin from the 8th century, called a sceatta. It was from a well known dealer but through eBay.
The coin was not a high grade example but had reasonable detail, probably a fairly fresh metal detecting find. It looked like it would benefit from a soak in distilled water. I put it in a disposable plastic cup of water and left it about a week ago.
Went to check on it last night, the cup was gone. Thrown away presumably by my mother in law a few days ago, almost certainly thinking to herself 'how did I let my daughter marry this messy fool...' My wife would never touch any of my stuff in the den but others are less concerned. The coin, tiny as it is (these things are 11-12 mm in diameter) was presumably completely unnoticed.
My heart sank when I saw the cup gone. In all odds the water from the cup was spilled into the sink or toilet and the coin lost to the waters of time.
I began a frantic search to see if maybe by some miracle the coin was still in the cup. Went through a couple of trash bags until the cup was located- empty of course.
My last forlorn of forlorn hope was that perhaps the cup was dumped in the kitchen sink, and the coin fell into the drain catch, which was at some point dumped into the garbage. I had not yet thrown away the kitchen bag. Now I have the fun task of digging through kitchen waste bags full of decaying fruit and vegetable waste, animal bones, coffee grounds, and essentially a mess of disgusting. I took out my metal detector and tried to scan portions of it but there was too much false signals, from foil wrappers, bottle caps, and just all the metal stuff inside the house. It was fruitless, I had to dig with my hands.
I was ready to give up when at the bottom of the last bag, covered in coffee grounds and looking far dirtier than when I originally tried to clean it, sat the coin.
There's a lesson in here somewhere.
Maybe it's 'don't clean your coins' or 'collect something bigger so you don't lose it so easily'. Or maybe 'put your coins in holders right away'. Even 'get your coins slabbed!' It's not nearly as easy to lose the big plastic holders.
Comments
Don't let your mother in law in the house is the best lesson.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Haha, she watches my daughter once a week, turning that down would be more foolish than losing coins.
Well
be thankful she didn't swig it down and you having to wait a week or two to recover it.
Steve
Maybe a skull and crossbones stamp would keep meddlers and idiots away....
Hmmmm, something said for staying single and not letting anyone inside your "den".
bob
That coin is destined to survive time !
The coin was just determined to go back into the ground where it came from... via the garbage truck.
Imagine an archaeologist excavating near the local dump 1000 years from now finding the coin mixed in with Coke bottles and other modern waste items. Much confusion could result!
I totally agree!
Wow...what an adventure.... your dedication did pay off though. Heck of a story....
Cheers, RickO
You can't leave us hanging. I have to see the coin, now
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
My mother-in-law is from Mexico and was visiting. I was showing her a large size raw Mexican coin that booked for $175. and the phone rang. Whenever I got off the phone, she had taken the coin out of the flip and scrubbed it with Comet! I still have the coin on my desk as a reminder. Lesson learned: Never leave the M-I-L alone or near coins again!
But she fixed it for you! Did she proudly show you what she had done?
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
She was like a bird dog bringing a bird to the hunter! She was so proud!
All that should be attributed on the label if you get it graded.
i think at that point i might now worry about it. just saying if it were me.
LOL
A new treatment for coins-the kitchen garbage bag treatment. Who knows what kind of toning might come from coffee grounds, egg shell and banana peals.
Recently I helped my brother clean out a recently deceased artist's apartment. I saved the things of obvious value however over 40 yards of collected material were tossed in a dumpster or taken to the dump, obvious valuables were taken to Goodwill. I was told that people will search through bags like that regardless, I guess it depends on the dump policy. Personally I like to see anything of value recycled. The only coin in my position I can remember losing was a 1/20 oz gold Panda.
@Nap
So glad your coin was found! What was the post-find-the-coin reactions from the family?
Old thread alert.
I'd love to see a pic of this coin. Sounds like it's the size of a California Fractional Gold Coin which are really tiny.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire