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Harshly cleaned coins - how was this coin “harshly” cleaned

KollectorKingKollectorKing Posts: 4,820 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited May 14, 2019 11:44AM in U.S. Coin Forum

vs non harshly cleaned? The coin is bright & shiny, but how was it done?


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    BroadstruckBroadstruck Posts: 30,497 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 14, 2019 12:41PM

    @ChrisH821 said:
    probably with silver polish, who knows.

    Yep that although just mildly abrasive will dull the luster to look like it's a chrome trailer hitch ball.

    To Err Is Human.... To Collect Err's Is Just Too Much Darn Tootin Fun!
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    lkeneficlkenefic Posts: 9,328 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It looks like it could have been done with a chemical similar to what my mom used to use to clean the family silver ware...

    Collecting: Dansco 7070; Middle Date Large Cents (VF-AU); Box of 20;

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    BillJonesBillJones Posts: 35,779 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ChrisH821 said:
    probably with silver polish, who knows.

    That's as good a guess as any. If you use baking soda, the hairlines would be bigger. This stuff polished the surfaces more to a mirror finish.

    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
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    coinkatcoinkat Posts: 24,379 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I saw a raw 27-s at an auction about 4-5 years ago that had near PL surfaces that was truly a coin for the ages. I believe it brought close to 10K.

    The coin that is the subject of this thread was likely stunning before it fell into the wrong hands. Not only has this coin lost most of its value, it was stripped of an irreplaceable look. And if that isn't traumatic enough, it gets submitted. It must have been a sad day in the grading room to see a coin like this knowing what it once was will never be again...

    Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.

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    kevinstangkevinstang Posts: 1,521 ✭✭✭

    There's a car care product called "Never-Dull" shines stuff up like that!

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    cameonut2011cameonut2011 Posts: 10,458 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 14, 2019 8:01PM

    I agree with those guessing a polish or other abrasive was used in addition to mechanical manipulation/wiping.

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    CommemKingCommemKing Posts: 2,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Because it was obviously polished harshly for some time with a jewelers cloth. Without question.

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    YQQYQQ Posts: 3,442 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Perhaps it was whizzed. I spend over 10 K once at an auction online. After I received the coins it became very obvious they were all whizzed. They all looked just perfectly shiny, better than just out of the mint.

    Today is the first day of the rest of my life
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    davewesendavewesen Posts: 6,920 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I suspect the obverse as there are shadows around the letters, and helped with a buffing wheel.

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    burlguyburlguy Posts: 71 ✭✭✭

    Dip it till it gets frosty and throw it in a bag of halves and shake it around for 10 minutes. It might still go AU and you will lose the cleaning tag.....

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    3keepSECRETif2rDEAD3keepSECRETif2rDEAD Posts: 4,285 ✭✭✭✭✭

    ...looks to me like it was done by a fax machine with a scanner? ;)

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    JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Baffeling

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
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    rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yep.. chemical and mechanical work done on that WLH.... Cheers, RickO

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    PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 47,509 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looks like regular silver polish was used. Non-collectors think that if they shine their coins up a coin dealer will pay more for it. They don't realize that collectors prefer their coins to be tarnished, dirty, and crusty.

    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

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    johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 32,216 ✭✭✭✭✭

    that's pretty sad to see that.

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    ashelandasheland Posts: 24,420 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Indeed it looks polished.

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    SilverProofQuarter1883SilverProofQuarter1883 Posts: 1,977 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Maybe cleaning chemicals

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    PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 47,509 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @markelman1125 said:
    Maybe cleaning chemicals

    More like fine abrasives typically found in silver or brass polishing compounds.

    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

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    ColonelJessupColonelJessup Posts: 6,442 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Justacommeman said:
    Baffeling

    m

    The coin was not baffeled, not even at the edges.

    Remember 10 years ago when the penalty for coin doctoring was disembowelment, the burning of the entrails, hanging and quartering and burning until death. This was in that guy's pocket :#

    If coins have nine lives, how many does this one have left?
    Might reemerge as a wholesome VF if some "artificial wear" could be applied.

    "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - Geo. Orwell
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    TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 45,011 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Better living through chemistry. Harshly, being the truth.

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    coinkatcoinkat Posts: 24,379 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Better Living Through Chemistry sounds like the name of a magazine or some periodical...

    So this will obviously not make the cover... Or even a side story that chemistry is simply not for everyone.

    Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.

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    topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ColonelJessup said:

    If coins have nine lives, how many does this one have left?
    Might reemerge as a wholesome VF if some "artificial wear" could be applied.

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    BUFFNIXXBUFFNIXX Posts: 2,759 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I’ve seen em before and
    this looks harsh too me.

    Collector of Buffalo Nickels and other 20th century United States Coinage
    a.k.a "The BUFFINATOR"

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