Before and Afters of SS Republic and NCS

nwcs · December 23, 2003 3:13AM

Courtesy of Andy Lustig, here are some before and after pics.

1854 O before
Obverse Reverse

1854 O after
Obverse Reverse

1865 before
Obverse Reverse

1865 after
Obverse Reverse

1860 before
Obverse Reverse

1860 after
Obverse Reverse

1860 in the holder
Coin in holder

mgoodm3 · December 23, 2003 3:16AM

deja-vu. Still nice work.

nwcs · December 23, 2003 3:18AM

Yeah, I figured it deserved a thread of its own.

CoinAddict · December 23, 2003 3:19AM

Man they really came out sharp looking. Thanks for sharing.

JohnZ · December 23, 2003 3:22AM

NCS does a nice job with that sandblaster.

sadysta1 · December 23, 2003 3:22AM

On that 1865 do you see 65 in denticles??????????????????????? or is it just my cherrypicker in me????????????????????????????

dragon · December 23, 2003 3:45AM

Sometimes it's hard to see just how 'stripped out' these conserved coins really appear until you hold one side by side to an original piece. Some of those gold coins don't even look like gold anymore IMO, they look like weathered brass, and that half dollar in the NGC MS61 holder looks to have no lustre left whatsoever, just bright matte like, cleaned surfaces IMO.

You can be sure that if a collector sent in a raw half dollar like the SS Republic one pictured, it would most definately be bagged for cleaning or environmental damage or both. So much for "arms length grading". I guess the arms length grading policy gets temporarily put on hold when they receive a multi million dollar conserving and grading contract and all the publicity

dragon

nwcs · December 23, 2003 3:47AM

Thing is, they looked worse "original"

RYK · December 23, 2003 4:10AM

Presumably, these are among the best examples of their restoration. I am not as scared as I was before.

Russ · December 23, 2003 4:14AM

And I can't even figure out how to get a milk spot off a proof coin. Amazing difference but, even to my inexperienced eye, they do look obviously cleaned. Better than before, that's for sure, but definitely not original looking.

Russ, NCNE

PhillyJoe · December 23, 2003 4:22AM

Using the 1865 as an example; I think they did a terrific job. Cleaned? Yes. But would you really want to own it in its "before" condition. When you think that they basically had to begin by scraping barnacles and 150 years of crud, amazing. I would love to own one of these "afters" and the slab would mean very little to me in this case.

Great photos, BTW. Thanks.

Joe

jeffnpcb · December 23, 2003 4:42AM

BB! Cleaned or Whizzed! Net grade, whatever you think it is! Net value, Kagen's over the roof! It will be interesting to see these agian in a few years after the atmosphere and moisture starts the salt activating again!

dcarr · December 23, 2003 4:45AM

<< <i>Sometimes it's hard to see just how 'stripped out' these conserved coins really appear until you hold one side by side to an original piece. Some of those gold coins don't even look like gold anymore IMO, they look like weathered brass, and that half dollar in the NGC MS61 holder looks to have no lustre left whatsoever, just bright matte like, cleaned surfaces IMO.

You can be sure that if a collector sent in a raw half dollar like the SS Republic one pictured, it would most definately be bagged for cleaning or environmental damage or both. So much for "arms length grading". I guess the arms length grading policy gets temporarily put on hold when they receive a multi million dollar conserving and grading contract and all the publicity

dragon >>

Dragon,

Those were my thoughts exactly. I even posted as much in the other thread on this topic:

>>>
When I look at the 1860-O half dollar, this is what I see:

The "before" pictures look to me like the coin has already undergone some "conservation" at this stage.
On the "before" reverse picture, note the black patch above the second "S" in STATES. In the "after" reverse picture, note the cloudy patch where it once was black. Also note the two corrosion pits in the denticles in that same area.

The biggest thing I noticed (looking at the "after" reverse picture) were all the corrosion pits on the Eagle's right wing.

If I were to send a coin like that (raw) to NGC, PCGS, ICG, or ANACS, not only would they not grade it MS-61, they wouldn't grade it at all (they'd send it back in a "body bag").

None the less, it is still a very cool item with a lot of historic significance.
<<<

dcarr · December 23, 2003 4:50AM

<< <i>On that 1865 do you see 65 in denticles??????????????????????? or is it just my cherrypicker in me???????????????????????????? >>

Yes, I distinctly see the tops of a "65" in the denticles. This variety is not listed in my Breen catalog.
I don't know if it is listed anywhere else. Could be a new discovery by sadysta1 !

nwcs · December 23, 2003 11:34AM

ttt for the evening crowd

FatMan · December 23, 2003 11:43AM

Very interesting. I will reserve comment until I can see one in person. Will NCS have any displayed at FUN?

Coinosaurus · December 23, 2003 12:31PM

Kewl. This is why I read these boards, they never have neat stuff like this in CW.

Before and Afters of SS Republic and NCS

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