So tell the story about the rare coin that you damaged.
Coinstartled
Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
Intentionally or unintentionally.
*lost or tossed coins not included.
0
Coinstartled
Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
Comments
I'll chime in later after gauging the other stories.
Please....not THE one I'm thinking of.
No erasers were harmed.
Metal detecting in a park which was supposedly detected to death by everyone and their entire families.
Fisher CZ-6a (my main with which I was pretty proficient). Damp soil conditions, early Summer day and it was pretty hot and humid, with full sun beating down on damp grass as I recall. This would have been 18 years ago or so. This park is really trashy. Surrounded by fraternities and sororities so it's got 50 years of pull tabs and every other piece of metallic junk you can imagine. But it's also been in use for over 100 years. An endless supply of new pocket change and the occasional silver ring.
Was having a crap day of it. A great handful of modern clad with tons of quarters but nothing interesting. Walking back toward the car and got a shallow but good signal within a foot or two of the newer sidewalk along the street. Tired, exhausted, sweaty and hot, I almost left it there. Instead I decided to "probe" with my Lesche instead of cutting a plug. It was shallow and right next to the sidewalk, after all.
Felt the tip hit a metal surface, so I gouged a 3" plug and flipped it over, expecting to see a dime or quarter.
Staring up at me was a 1907-S Barber half, in nice VF-XF, with a fresh rim nick.
--Severian the Lame
Great story, Weiss. Do you still have the half?
Happily the worst I’ve done is completely gouge a 1976 silver proof half with a screwdriver trying to get it out of those capsules. I figured out a better way but those things are a pain. I also damaged a bunch of circulated early wheats my grandfather put into those freezer tubes back in the 1950s or 1960s by cutting around them with a dremmel tool. Went too deep. Not great coins but they were some my grandfather laid down so kinda mad at myself about that.
I bought a heavily chopped trade dollar for my 7070 years back from a very generous forumite. However, it did not fit well in the album. It had almost as much concave-ness as the up coming Apollo 11 commems. So, I thought I would 'help' make it fit. I placed the coin on the cement floor of my basement with a 'protective' layer underneath, placed another 'protective' layer on top and proceeded to hammer it into submission and surprise, surprise, I got it to be flat with no more damage than had already been done by the Chinese merchants long ago. Now it fits and looks great.
As a child, I never met a bust half that didn't look better after a good pencil erasering.
I've learned.
You weren't alone. Lots of nice circulated coins ruined back in the day.
I did this to a few coins as a kid, too; fortunately they were mostly common coins. I did not own any rarities at the time that I could mar in this manner. The worst sin was that I did pencil-erase an 1854 half dollar I inherited from my grandfather. PCGS might today grade this "XF40 Details - pencil erasure"?
We need a "head shaking" button!
Never damaged, just dip or wipe the nasty off to make them pretty again.
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
As a kid I coated a few cents with mercury from a thermometer. Gave them a nice silvery color.
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
I've told this story before.
There was an old guy back in the early to mid 1980's who wanted to liquidate some coins. I was going to coin shows (back then they were plentiful) anyway so I was selling his coins to Dealers mostly and working for 10%.
One day he gave me an 1806 $5 gold coin. I'd never seen one so I brought it to my mentor who explained that this was indeed a power coin that would need to go to ANACS for grading and authentication. Back then they were the only game in town.
In preparation for mailing I opened to 2 X 2 and the Goddamn staple contacted the cheek on this fabulous original coin. We mailed it anyway and with my hat in my hand I had to explain to the owner what had happened. He was completely cool about it as he didn't think he had much money into it anyway. The coin returned AU 50 as I recall. I sold it in Milwaukee as I recall and never looked back.
Still got my 10% which I declined but the owner insisted that a deal was a deal.
Somewhere there's an 1806 $5 coin with a tiny cheek scratch. I never pull them friggin things apart anymore. Pop and twist.
Cant think of a coin right off, but years ago I had just purchased a really nice crisp Hawaii $1.00 note at a show. I was driving my dads truck and he had a compartment near the center console, I had to hit the breaks hard and the note fell to the floor board and some how got stuck between the back of the break pedal and the back of the foot area, I smashed the bill literally in half with my foot, plastic case and all.
Although it was not me, I aided and abetted the crime.
Circa 1962, my friend had a draped bust dollar, given to him by who knows. We were young and stupid, and while reading Mad Magazine, he decided that the draped bust figure was too um, modest. So with the point of a compass, he encouraged her to prep herself for a Playboy photo shoot.
photo or it didnt happen
Minor Variety Trade dollar's with chop marks set:
More Than It's Chopped Up To Be
I was at a local auction that had some really nice raw coins and was looking at a high grade gold dollar. I forget the year 188X and as I recall and it was gem . Well you all know how small they are. Yup I dropped it on the counter and it bounced off and fell on the concrete floor. About a dozen heads turned and looked at me. I bent over and could barely pick it cause my hands were instantly sweaty.
So ya I put a nice rim bump on that beautiful little coin.
Not my doing, or my coin. But makes for a good story.
Someone I used to do business had his fathers raw proof 1856 flying eagle cent as a child and was playing with it. He saw an eraser nearby, so decided to make the penny shinny. 40 years later, he found the coin 80 miles away from where he lived, and now owns it.
My own education wasn't terribly expensive and it wasn't a terribly rare coin except for sentimental reasons. When I lived in France many years ago a friend gave me a 50 Franc Silver Hercules coin. I left it in the holder it came in and ignored it for about 15-20 years. When I pulled it out of the flip, the coin was covered in a gooey film which in retrospect was obviously PVC. I took a rag to it and eventually, with much scrubbing and cussing, was able to remove most of the gunk. Well, the hairlines were deep and nasty.
This all happened a couple of years before I got serious in coins and started to edumacate my self a bit. Perhaps acetone would have been easier? Here it is now in all its glory:
I cherry picked a 1959 half dollar in an OGP set that may warrant a Cameo designation. It had developed haze on it.
While removing the haze I ended up putting a scratch on the obverse field. I kick myself about that.
I bought a nice unc $2 1/2 Indian that was in one of those self slabs with cheap foam inserts. I was used to breaking NGC and PCGS coins out using metal tin snips, so thought I would go that route with this one too. Unfortunately, the cheap foam did not hold the coin securely, and unbeknownst to me, the coin had slid down to the edge I was cutting
Yup, cut that sucker nearly in two. Went ahead and sold it as-is on ebay, and some idiot must have thought it was unique, because I still made money on it! ha
Worst thing I have seen. Years ago I purchased a world set of 1/2 dollar sized coins in a generic Capital Plastic Half Dollar holder. The collector had filed the edges of the coins that were a little larger than a 1/2 dollar so they would fit in the holder. There were several South American 4 Reales done this way.
I carved a 1944-D into a poor imitation of a 1914-D as a kid.
I knew it would happen.
A friend of mine, Ronnie, was taking a CC Morgan out of a holder, not sure what kind of holder and his screwdriver slipped and put a scratch across the whole obverse! It was an UNC Morgan!
He was so upset, he literally threw the coin into the trash and let it go out with the garbage truck!
My YouTube Channel
Did you fish it out of the trash?
This coin would have made a good pocket piece and the scratch would eventually disappear after carrying it for several years.
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
This happened before I knew him, he told me the story about ten years ago, and it had been years since it happened even then... I can only imagine it's literally in a land fill somewhere!
My YouTube Channel
Back in my bowling days a guy I bowled with had just bought one of the newer nicer balls. He was so pssed at the way he bowled with it he threw in in the trash! Of course I fished it out. Showed up at league with it the next week and tried to give it back..."get that dmn ball away from me!" I proceeded to kick his arse with it! He actually had a higher average than me and the ball ended up improving my average close to 10 points over the next 6 months!
LOL can't use the * asterick anymore!
Did something like that with a 32-D Quarter. Fortunately in was an AG grade.
I'm sure it happens a lot! You get mad enough and you don't think straight...
My YouTube Channel
Many years ago I scratched a 1892 Barber half TDR taking it out of a 2 x 2.
INYNWHWeTrust-TexasNationals,ajaan,blu62vette
coinJP, Outhaul ,illini420,MICHAELDIXON, Fade to Black,epcjimi1,19Lyds,SNMAN,JerseyJoe, bigjpst, DMWJR , lordmarcovan, Weiss,Mfriday4962,UtahCoin,Downtown1974,pitboss,RichieURich,Bullsitter,JDsCoins,toyz4geo,jshaulis, mustanggt, SNMAN, MWallace, ms71, lordmarcovan
I don't scratch 'em, I just toss 'em away.
When I was a kid I would put fingerprints all over proof coins and then rub them with a cloth to make them "shiny" again. Today these are probably the finest toned Franklins in existence
Only took an eraser to one coin, an 1847 Hawaiian cent. That would have been in the late 60’s when I was in elementary school. Still have it somewhere.
The story a few posts above reminds me of a story I heard golfing.
One day a golfer friend of mine was having a terrible day. He got to 18 and immediately shanked yet another ball right into the pond. He was so upset with himself that he grabbed his bag full of clubs, lifted them high over his head, walked to the pond and proceeded to launch the bag into the water. As he walked away, satisfied with his decision, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned around and proceeded to wade into the pond to recover his prized clubs. He dragged them ashore and appeared to be taking some kinda inventory. When he was finished he picked up the bag again, walked back to the waters edge and pitched the club bag back in the water.
I asked, "WTF are you doing?" He then admitted, "I forgot my keys".
You aren't the only one. It looks better in hand.
http://www.silverstocker.com
Anyone can PM me Any Time about Any thing.
The eraser or the coin?
Early 90's. Back of a coin shop. Transferring a Swiss Shooting Taler out of a 2x2 with the staples open but not ejected. Scratch. I wasn't the one who did it but it was a fellow numismatist. The individual was warned / asked to consider an alternative way ... but he removed it dangerously in that manner anyway thinking it wouldn't be a problem. I remember alcohol was a bit involved.
A Barber Quartet is made up of Nickels, Dimes, Quarters, and Halves.
Reminded me of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v99PnBY56ko
My YouTube Channel
I bought 3 1968-S proof sets that all had DDO cameo half dollars in them. They also had some spotting, and I had heard about and successfully used CLR (Calcium/Lime/Rust) cleaner to remove tiny spots from other silver proof Kennedy halves in the past. My intent was a 5-minute soak to see if there was any improvement. I then got sidetracked and completely forgot about them until the following morning, when I suddenly was awakened by the thought of forgetting them. I went to get them out of their bath, and they had all turned completely black.
Along the same lines, I put a 1925-S RPM cent in XF into Verdi-Gone for what was an hour-long soak, and forgot about it. The next day, I found it had turned from chocolate brown to light tan. I will say, though, that the verdigris I was trying to remove was largely gone.
I now set a timer whenever I need to do things like this.
when I dug my first barber dime I did not watch what I was really doing and put a nice scratch across the obverse. a major bummer. I was more careful after that
it was an 1899 to boot but just the same I didn't want to do that
I put a YUGE and deep scratch with a screwdriver on the reverse of an AU 1911- Strong D $2½ Indian cracking it out of an NGC holder. Oops. This was a few years ago when the coins were in the $1k +/- range. I've learned to be a little more careful.
Well they weren't really rare but this here in my hand is/was a 1947 Mexico Peso and 1965 Canadian Half Dollar and a 1963 Franklin Half, well after melting them together with a Mapp Gas Torch, It's kinda a on again and off again Pocket Piece
Steve
Too ashamed to tell. Old holder staple type, tiny hole in plastic, Lincoln cent. You know the rest.