Pocket Piece Questions
Batman23
Posts: 5,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have a Morgan I am trying to wear down to wear off some cleaning... I have some clad dimes and quarters (with non sharp edges) as well as other current non-reeded change with mine. I have read a few posts here though and have some questions.
ibzman350 posted His latest pocket piece pics here. The coin is obviously getting some wear but the coin almost has a cleaned look now.
There are a few more ASE pocket pieces posted here. The surfaces just do not seem natural. Would a little toning make all the difference?
stev32k posted a 1942 WLH at the end of this thread. He has carried it for 9 years and it still has a cleaned look to it.
What is the best thing to carry around with your pocket piece? After looking at a couple of these past posts I am beginning to wonder if it is wise to use clad coinage? Would a pocket full of silver dimes make all the difference?
How much wear (loss of grade points) does one need to remove the marks of an obvious cleaning? I know this is all dependant upon the deepness of the cleaning scratches.
I was expecting a nice normal wear look to the piece after it has worn "normally" for a while but after looking at the polished look to the coins posted I see that is not the case. How do you get an natural look to the coin after you remove it from your pocket? Or would silver dimes make all the difference? How do you get one of these "polished" pocket pieces into a slab without the Altered/questionable surface BB getting in the way?
I would like to do this right and not mess up my Morgan in the process. What do you find works and does not work, the does and don'ts of pocket pieces you might say. Any experience and knowledgeable advice is appreciated.
0
Comments
what about the rev?
I have a ASE a Morgan and a few walkers I use and they all look like the photos posted.
A true PO01 coin in my opinion happened years and years ago. They began to turn dark again after
being out of the pocket.
If you want to get rid of the cleaning marks get a bottle of eZest and dip over and over for about a month..
every dip takes another micro layer off the coin..Your coin is beyond help IMO
get a BU morgan and carry it in a pocket with nothing else for about 20 yrs and you might get close to what you are
looking for
I am sure it's real. It is actually an 1893-P VAM 4.
"I hate to burst your bubble but as you walk around during the day you are "cleaning" your coin... Your coin is beyond help IMO"
So tell me what is cleaning versus normal wear? Is a 1998 Jefferson nickel in F15 caused from normal circulation worn or just very clean? I do not want to dip it to death, I would like for it to have a natural looking appearance though.
"I have a ASE a Morgan and a few walkers I use and they all look like the photos posted."
That I posted or that are in the prior threads? If the prior threads, what do you carry along with them, clad coins, silver coins, keys or other?
By 'wearing off a cleaning' I believe you really mean wearing down the metal so that some hairline scratches are gone. Essentially you are polishing or buffing those scratches out.
The coin grade gets lower. You lose more luster. High points wear away.
What is missing is time. Lots and lots of time. No perfect substitute for that. There are 'adverse environments'. But you don't want to wreck your coin!!!
The only thing i've 'pocket pieced' so far is Sac Dollars. I'm trying to make a series of progressively pocket-pieced worn coins. But not for improvement or to reverse cleaning, just for curiosity. It is taking forever since I refuse to put 25 in my pocket at once.
<< <i>"are you sure it's real?"
I am sure it's real. It is actually an 1893-P VAM 4.
"I hate to burst your bubble but as you walk around during the day you are "cleaning" your coin... Your coin is beyond help IMO"
So tell me what is cleaning versus normal wear? Is a 1998 Jefferson nickel in F15 caused from normal circulation worn or just very clean? I do not want to dip it to death, I would like for it to have a natural looking appearance though.
"I have a ASE a Morgan and a few walkers I use and they all look like the photos posted."
That I posted or that are in the prior threads? If the prior threads, what do you carry along with them, clad coins, silver coins, keys or other? >>
I guess the only difference I can come up with would be normal circulation would put a coin through different types of wear..Coin registers vending machines, Change cups in peoples homes...I compared your coin being cleaned by the constant rubbing with the inside of your pocket. Denim jeans being the worse. Loose slacks would cause less wear. I carry my pocket pieces in with my other change. No keys no pocket knife..
The look you are trying for I would assume happens when the said pocket piece no longer remains a pocket piece. As the coin sits in a change drawer or in a album it will start to develop the natural tone you are looking for.
Rubbing on your pants pocket and other coins all day will remove any of the tone you are looking for. I know this first hand because my first pocket piece was a nicely brown toned 1878 morgan. After around 3 months it looked like a what you pictured below with subtle hints of the brown tone left in the lettering..
I was speaking of all the previous threads I have seen on this forum. Every ASE and Morgan almost all look the same if they are a true pocket piece. One that is carried daily for months or years at a time..Which is what you need to get to where you want to be TIME...
Both of my Walkers look just like stev32k in the last thread link...
Maybe, 30 years from now you'll have this:
"Exotic" is the word one of the forum members (Higashiyama sp?) uses when describing coins that are rare in such condition, unexpectedly so, and which the design actually improves (I know, 'subjective') with the wear/toning. I concur wholeheartedly!
Don
"The look you are trying for I would assume happens when the said pocket piece no longer remains a pocket piece. As the coin sits in a change drawer or in a album it will start to develop the natural tone you are looking for. Rubbing on your pants pocket and other coins all day will remove any of the tone you are looking for."
I am aware of this but as you can tell, there is not much tone there. It was all cleaned off years ago. Unfortunately that evidence was left behind as hairlines.
"I was speaking of all the previous threads I have seen on this forum. Every ASE and Morgan almost all look the same if they are a true pocket piece. One that is carried daily for months or years at a time..Which is what you need to get to where you want to be TIME..."
I understand that it needs lots of time jingeling around. What I am looking for is the do's and don'ts when trying for the best results. Have you tried using silver change instead of clad change, and if so did it have a different result?
Silver coins that experience intense periods of circulation (or in this case, pocket rub) do not develop that dark, crusty look until after they are withdrawn from circulation and given a chance to oxidize.
Don