Can a bent Morgan Dollar be unbent.
Coinstartled
Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
Asking for a friend. 
0
Coinstartled
Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
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Of course it can be. The only question is how much damage will occur as a result. I have some techniques to reduce the damage but they are not perfect.
How bad is the bend? If it's slight, your friend can put it between two blocks of wood and hit it with a hammer to straighten it out. Otherwise, tell your friend to sell as bullion unless it's a rare date.
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
yes
Could try sandwiching it with plexiglass in a vice.
Friend and coin are hypothetical. Lets make it a 95-s for the sake of discussion.
Yes it can be bent back, It takes some time, you need a large vice, a thick piece of leather like on old mitt and something that will not leave a mark on the coin, Plexiglas like logger said, it needs to be thick. The wood and hammer works on smaller coins...Good luck!
All 1893-s dollars can be straightened if you send to me.....I'll send back when done.
bob
I'll see if Alibaba can drop ship.
Tell your friend I wish him/her the best of luck.
Oh damn! Why that one? Had you selected an 81-o it is simple.
Any coin can be unbent. The question should be "Can a coin be unbent such that there is no evidence that the coin was ever bent?"
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
Aye, there's the rub. Our good buddy behind Westwood RCG who is now in the hoosegow, said a $10K early gold coin could be fixed without any guarantees, slight bend with the plexiglass method for $100. I passed. You have to know what you are doing.
Insert witicism here. [ xxx ]
Fair enough..we will go with your birth year coin.
"Can a Bent Morgan Dollar Be Unbent?"
a poem by Maya Angelou
ouch
There is bending and there is stretching.
When metal is bent, (really it is a linear deflection), there is a high likelihood that the crystalline structure along the "top" is stretched.
Once stretched, no way, short of heat as the crystalline structure is altered.
It can be "bent" back, but the internal stress of the stretch will still be present, and often shows up as "waves" in the surface.
Think about an old time oil can, where the top button popped in and out to pump the oil. That is stretched metal.
While you can make it flat again, I doubt it could be made flat and gradeable. Of course, if there's some doc that specializes in that, then I'll put on my Raymond Reddington hat and say, "You're looking for The Unbender. A most unsavory character who has made his name unbending coins and getting them graded. Nobody knows who he is, but I know how to find him."
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
When in doubt, look on YouTube. Odds are someone has uploaded a video.
May not make it gradeable, but pretty good results for a coin folded in half.
https://youtu.be/uC_WcytrR9I
Agree it depends on the amount of bend... I've successfully used the leather/vice trick on half dimes and dimes for very slight bends. As others have said, there will be distortion on the metal if it's more bend than slightly. Never attempted on a silver dollar, though. Good luck!
I wonder if The Unbender would leave a big fat fingerprint on his 1943-D bronze cent?
Very interesting.
actually, you're a "dollar mauler"
I'm here all week, folks
No.
Heat is a definite requirement to achieve sucess. Your blacksmith can do this for you. But you might also get some unexpected "toning". Please post your results.
OINK
Your blacksmith can do this for you.
It's not 1880. Nobody has a blacksmith. HELP!!!!!!!!!
Horse tracks do!
O.k., look. I know there's blacksmiths out there. My grandfather was one. His father was one. There's a guy around here who drives a beat up old pick up truck with "Blacksmith" and his telephone number written on the door. But.....if I wanted to get my bent silver dollars straightened out, I would never in a million years think to call that guy. I'd think.........Oh forget it. Call your blacksmith. HELP!!!!
..
....
He doesn't know anything. It's my son's birth year.
Silversmith might be a better option.
I had a severely bent 8 Reales Spanish coin that I attempted to straighten. I used two pieces of wood (2X4) and a swinging press (hammer). After a couple of smacks the coin was flat however there was a hairline crack in the coin when I finished. Even with the crack, the coin looked better.
Wisdom has been chasing you but, you've always been faster
Just tell people it was made on a rocker press
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Bad transactions with : nobody to date
It can be done, but will always be detectable to the experienced eye.....of course, if one is not 'looking' for those signs, it may be easily missed. I assume (not a good practice) you would want it 'unbent' for grading... I suggest you not bother... likely it will not be grade worthy when submitted. Cheers, RickO
Can a coin collector be warped?
I don't think I've ever seen a bent silver dollar.
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
A girl named Morgan told me to get bent, once.
I used to have a Kennedy half dollar that was bent from having a hole shot through it. That was kind of strange
Wisdom has been chasing you but, you've always been faster
Just soak it in some Menudo on the morning after for a few hours
Steve
Until he got funny OINK gave everyone a big clue.
PS to be perfectly honest, I have never had a "bent" dollar or $20 to work on.
When they were circulating coins, I shot several coins myself.
New thread!
You know you're a Redneck, or _______________________ (fill in the blank) when you...
When you almost get run over picking up 3 corroded cents in the parking lot
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Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Man, it would take a lot to bend a Morgan! We straightened out some large cents once but had a 60 ton press at work. Put the coin between two strops of leather and pumped it up to 40 tons, coins came out dead flat, but that's copper, not a silver Morgan.
Good luck...did a M1-A1 Abrams battle tank roll over it?
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
Once we get all this hashed out, I am going to ask: "Can an unbent Morgan Dollar be bent"?
Do not try and unbend the Dollar, that's impossible.
Instead, only try to realize the truth... there is no Dollar.
Then you'll see that it is not the Dollar that unbends, it is only yourself.
Collector, occasional seller