Shipwreck Coins
carzzy
Posts: 94
Shipwreck coins have been cleaned and then slabbed by PCGS and NGC. My question is....if I cracked out one of these coins and submitted it raw to the company that graded it originally...would it get BB'd for being cleaned?
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But silver coins, such as the SS Republic's seated lib halves, have other issues. Silver corrodes in salt water. The issue with such pieces would not be cleaning, but corrosion (known as the "shipwreck effect" for recovered silver coins).
<< <i>Shipwreck coins have been cleaned and then slabbed by PCGS and NGC. My question is....if I cracked out one of these coins and submitted it raw to the company that graded it originally...would it get BB'd for being cleaned? >>
In Stack's Ford sale there were 100+ gold coins from the wreck of the Le Chameau (sank in the 1720s; recovered in the 1960s).
Some of those coins were pretty rough looking, others were nearly pristine. Some subsequently slabbed at high grades at the services, others BB'd.
In other words, there is a wide variation, and it depends on what they look like. Per your original question, though, I can easily imagine some coins that were 'on the fence' and might slab or BB on different days.
<< <i>There's a difference between improperly cleaning and "conserving" (proper cleaning). For example, the SSCA gold coins were properly cleaned, and will grade if resubmitted, although you'll lose the pedigree.
But silver coins, such as the SS Republic's seated lib halves, have other issues. Silver corrodes in salt water. The issue with such pieces would not be cleaning, but corrosion (known as the "shipwreck effect" for recovered silver coins). >>
The pedigree is most of the value...
It's not as simple as how silver versus gold behaves in salt water. Much of the "shipwreck effect" is due to water currents sandblasting the coins with the ocean floor sand. Silver in cold salt water itself changes minimally. Why the difference in gold coins? Gold coins, being worth the most, were generally kept in chests or wooden boxes, while silver coins were kept in bags. The bags dissolved quickly, but the chests tended to protect the gold coins from swirling sand for decades until various mineral deposits covered the coins, that could easily protect them for centuries.
<< <i>My question is....if I cracked out one of these coins and submitted it raw to the company that graded it originally...would it get BB'd for being cleaned? >>
YES!