New member in need of some opinions

spoonorfork · January 28, 2009 12:35PM

Hi to start off I am in my early 20's and have been collecting coins on and off for about 10 years and in the past year have really become involved with coin collecting. To begin with and until recently I have mainly purchased coins at or near melt and put together a few sets of the common stuff. Recently I have started buying a few better dated stuff and have decided that Barber dimes is the set for me to work on. Anyways I recently purchased this 1900 o off ebay and it looks much better than I had hoped except for the stuff all over it. Any ideas on how to remove it? Or is it not worth removing? What would the grade be considered with this stuff on it and without? Also are there any books on barber dimes thanks for any responses
BTW
heres the link to the auction with the sellers pictures I thought that it looked better than good but it had blurry pictures and thought it was a good deal
Text

and here are the pictures that I took coin...photography is a lot harder than it would seem

smokincoin · January 28, 2009 12:38PM

I say fork.

chaze215 · January 28, 2009 12:40PM

Cladiator · January 28, 2009 12:41PM

Welcome aboard.

Your coin has the appearance of one that's been underground for a considerable amount of time. I've dug many an old coin while metal detecting that looked nearly identical to your coin after a quick soap/water rinse.

robkool · January 28, 2009 12:44PM

The dime pictured, apppears heavily scratched on the obverse, & reverse, as well as cleaned... Someone tried cleaning the coin in an attempt to remove the corrosion/crud on the surfaces.
The proper way to remove the crud, or gunk is to dip the coin in acetone. The coin right now has very little value at this point...
Good luck... & Welcome to the forum.

spoonorfork · January 28, 2009 12:48PM

thanks for the replies... just relized i have been a memeber since march of last year lol ... will acetone clean the crud off or should I try to pick it off while its in acetone?

coinman420 · January 28, 2009 12:55PM

<< <i>I say fork.

>>

i was thinkin chopsticks

hard to tell from his and your pics but it looks to have nice details but may have been dark toned and "crusty" and then cleaned.

i would not recommend cleaning coins except using acetone or olive oil.

welcome to the boards

Cladiator · January 28, 2009 12:58PM

For $15 I'd say just chaulk this one up to a lesson learned on how a coin is not supposed to look and just move on to a second try. Be glad, we've all learned that lesson but only a few of us had the privilege of learning it that cheaply.

Barndog · January 28, 2009 1:01PM

get the "PCGS Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection" -- readily available on ebay for short money. Read it. Learn it. Study what is written about the desirable surfaces of collectible coins. There are lots more books out there on the topic, but that's a good one for starters.

You will/should learn that your coin is not desirable to seasoned collectors.

AUandAG · January 28, 2009 1:08PM

Took a chance and lost. Yep, I do it all the time and so do a lot of other here on the Forum.
Utah got a good one recently and I picked up a '82cc that really was a '92cc. Got it for cheap
'82 pricing from lousy pic. So, chalk this one up and put it in the cull pile. But, don't quit trying
to snag a gem for a song on ebay because it can be done.
bob
PS: Welcome!

cladking · January 28, 2009 1:16PM

Welcome aboard.

spoonorfork · January 28, 2009 1:19PM

Thanks to everyone for the welcome and comments I am not upset about the lost as this was the price range I was looking to make my first coin that wasn't about the intrinsic value and new it was a chance on being a bargain or not just glad I didnt go crazy and buy simething expensive and horrible

Cladiator · January 28, 2009 1:31PM

To give you some direction on a typical desired appearance if I were looking for original, eye appealing, circulated Barber Dimes I'd be looking for something like this...

Type2 · January 28, 2009 2:05PM

I look for a week, If I still like it I'll bid but that is just me. Have fun.

DorkGirl · January 28, 2009 4:13PM

greghansen · January 28, 2009 8:17PM

Welcome aboard. Other than what has already been said, I would suggest one other thing that you can do, it will cost you no money, you can do it at your leasure and it will greatly enhance your working knowledge on what an original circulated Barber dime should look like.

Go to Heritage Auction Galleries website and sign up for free membership. This will allow you to view their 'auction archives' including the coin images posted for past auctions. Go to the Barber Dime section and do a simple search for 'vf' if you are going to collect VF Barbers, or 'xf' if your going to collect XF coins, etc. This will pull up all past auctions and photos of coins graded by the grading services and you can click on the images for very large blown up images which are very useful for collectors at the beginning of the learning curve. I would initially look only at the PCGS graded coins (throwing a bone to the sponser of thsi forum) and you may even want to print off some of the large blown up images if you have access to a color printer. Now you will have big blown up color images of original surfaced coins and you will know how PCGS would grade a coin that looks similar. Live it, love it, learn it! Good luck.

Edited to add: As for your original question, soaking your coin in acetone isn't going to hurt anything and may improve it's appearance. If the material loosens and can be 'rolled off' with a Q-Tip great. I wouldn't 'pick' at the substance with anything unless you don't care what the outcome is and are willing to damage the coin for the sake of education.

Edited a second time to add: As for the pictures, you camera seems to have plenty of resolution. Try moving your camera farther away from the coin. A 3" image is plenty for a circulated coin. Also, lighting position and intensity isn't quite as critical or tricky for circulated coins. You can cut down on the lighting and move it a little farther away from the coin also for circulated coins. Experiment. Take 10 or 15 different shots in one setting making little changes with your set up and keep notes about what you did. Then take your notes and go look at the various images with the actual coin in front of you. When you find an image you've taken which closely matches what the coin in hand looks like, check your notes to see what your set up was and your HOME FREE my friend. Cheers. Here is a circulated Stn. Mtn. commemorative I took about a week ago with two lamps, each about 3 feet above the coin and my camera about 18" away from the coin on macro mode. I'm no photo expert (we got a ton of those on the site) but even a hacker like me can get a decent image of the easier circulated coins.

etexmike · January 28, 2009 10:17PM

and welcome to the forums.

Mike

razzle · January 28, 2009 10:43PM

Welcome. Seems to me that for a guy in his early twenties, you are ahead of the game, already learning to cherrypick and your photo ain't bad either. I'm impressed.

crazyhounddog · January 28, 2009 11:09PM

Your off to a good start, and your age well help. Learn my little friend, gain all the knowledge you can on your dimes. As far as your dime goes that you bought~ soap & water as it just looks dirty. The scrathes, you can't do to much for those. But time is on your side.

garsmith · January 28, 2009 11:55PM

FullStepJeffs · January 29, 2009 12:18AM

I can give no thoughts on the coin due to military censors of pictures, but there is no finer place on this earth in which to learn.

Rule #1... Read everything you can get your hands on about coins BEFORE you spend cash.

Rule #2... Buy the best coin you can afford the first time.

Rule #3... Collect what makes you happy!

Peace to all from my sandbox.

Steve

barbershopper · January 29, 2009 12:31AM

Welcome!

I see the photo of the better side (rev.) is a lot better than
the worst side (obv.) Coincidence? I don't think so.
JT

CarlWohlforth · January 29, 2009 12:37AM

Welcome!

Now that you have the coin why not learn as much as possible from the experience? I definitely would try acetone. Soak it for a few minutes then use a Q-tip to see what happens.

New member in need of some opinions

Comments

Leave a Comment