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Beautiful Nova Scotia 1861 1 Penny
JohnPhiloponus
Posts: 43 ✭✭✭
Any guess on the grade? Could this coin be lacquered? 
Collector of Victoria, Edward VII, George V and George VI Canadian; and most anything U.S. I am currently looking for early Lincolns, raw in XF or better.
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Unfortunately, the photo isn’t clear enough to tell very much.
But if the coin were lacquered, wouldn’t it be to protect the surfaces? And if so, then the black staining wouldn’t be present.
I would say AU+, and a small rose bud, plus 2 nice (appears so) die cracks below the crown. The black stuff may be a problem, and I don't know if lacquer turns black after time. Many coins were "preserved" like that back then by collectors.
https://www.coinsandcanada.com/coins-prices-trends-history-value.php?coin=1-cent-1861&years=1-cent-1861-1864&id_coin=4&p=nova-scotia
Try soaking it in acetone for about 24 hours.
If it is lacquer or varnish, this should remove it.
I think the acetone advice above is bad.
Be very careful with acetone on copper or you might damage the coin.
It is very difficult to know what lies beneath any contaminant that it removes.
Lacquer, if present, should be very easy to detect. We just can’t tell from the poor photos.
And my suspicion is the black is from PVC damage and not removable.
The die cracks @syl mentions are actually from a die clash. And fairly common on this series.
Life member #369 of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association
Member of Canadian Association of Token Collectors
Collector of:
Canadian coins and pre-confederation tokens
Darkside proof/mint sets dated 1960
My Ebay
And to be the semantic geek in this thread: Nova Scotia issued both "one cents" and "one pennies". This coin is a cent, not a penny.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded the DPOTD twice.