Rookie Mistake!
scotty4449
Posts: 718 ✭✭✭✭✭
So I come across a full set of Franklins that look really good under the estate sale warehouse lighting. I was in a rush so I didn't spend much time examining them, but nearly all look MS63-MS66! I thought the luster was a bit dull, but oh well, and win the set for $500.
Then I get home and start looking closely under good lighting and see that almost every coin is covered with these hairlines.
That will make these coins ungradable right? I need to spend some time learning how to identify cleaned coins better...
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Well.. If they all have hairlines like that, it does look like a mild cleaning.... Sorry for the bad news... Cheers, RickO
Not good news.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
Ouch
Are they behind plastic? Is the second pic the bare coin?
Edit, actually they are behind brand new 2X2s. But the hairlines are definitely on the coin itself.
Was hoping, for you, that it was the plastic flip that was scratched.
Ow!
Ow is right! I could tell the luster was off when I started comparing the coins to graded Franklins I had. Then I remembered a wheel mark thread a little while back and started looking at the coins from different angles of light when I I finally noticed them. Oh well, there were only a couple with FBL that would have been worth grading anyways.
Is that old school whizzing?
Yeah I was thinking it was the plastic to. Still nice coins though
Could just be the lighting but the GOD and the ERT look doubled on the 53. Definitely shows surface scratches.
Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs
Same thing just happened to me but with some Washington quarters. Live and learn .
Learning experience.
Ouch, but nice, I like them !!!
They are beautiful coins. I was able to fill out my collection and replace a few circulated coins with this set. It's unfortunate that someone had the urge to wipe these coins down, otherwise they would have been amazing! Of course, I probably wouldn't have been able to get the set for $500 either.
Raw coins are typically raw for a reason. Obviously there are exceptions but if if you’re buying raw coins, in general, unless you’re an expert, you need to heavily discount your purchase price for this type of scenario.
I bring a small LED flashlight with me whenever I think I’ll be looking at coins for just this reason. It also has a black light feature that I use on currency to highlight folds and other issues, and on coin to pick up putty.
If you can see it, so can the graders. I guess stuff like this helps keep rare coins rare. The good news is that you'll never get burned by that again and they're still made of silver.
As a young collector (pre-slab days) no dealer ever showed me how to check coins with a 5x glass for wiping hairlines.
Once I figured it out, I paid dearly when several of my favorite coins turned out to be cleaned.
So we've all been there and that was one of the reasons I welcomed the slab when it appeared 30 years ago.
Commems and Early Type
What would you call a "harsh" cleaning??
@Wabbit2313....The one's done with a wire brush....
...Sounds funny, but they are out there....Cheers, RickO
RE:
_Ouch, but nice, I like them !!! _
Really, what is it about a hairlined Franklin that is nice and you like???
That might be going too far. Many coins are raw because they aren't worth getting graded. When grading costs $10-$40+ per coin depending on how it's sent in, the coins even in the $50-100 range (or higher) may not be worth grading because the fees outweigh any benefit. That doesn't mean that a raw coin is garbage, just as a coin being graded doesn't mean it's nice. The key is to be familiar with what you're buying, especially if you think you found a bargain, in which case you have to determine if you or the seller knows more. Of course, as a coin's value increases, a coin being raw may be viewed with more suspicion, though there are still plenty of good coins that simply haven't been slabbed.
Coins can come with much more severe hairlining to the extent that the "lustre" is only a column of hairlines being illuminated at once and no semblance of a cartwheel. Cleanings can be lighter than the coin shown here, but also much more severe.
Glad you decided to share your pain with us because it's a good reminder for everyone to stay vigilant.
I'm sure we've all bought something that greatly disappointed when we got home and gave it a closer inspection.
I know I have and it made me sick.
Small consolation is that you're one step closer to losing that rookie status.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
Agree, financially it doesn’t make sense getting inexpensive coins graded. I wasn’t very clear but I was referring to more expensive coins that are raw. There are obviously exceptions but a lot of these coins are raw for a reason. I know I wouldn’t buy a $1000 coin that’s raw unless I liked the coin and I was getting a really good price. There’s no guarantee the coin will grade and I still have to pay for the submission.