Options
Deconstructing a doctored coin.
Teva
Posts: 830 ✭
Years ago I came across a sweet MS looking 1847 large cent with color issues.I don't remember what I paid but no more than 15 or 20 dollars. Recently the coin started to display problems and I knew the coin had been colored so I decided to soak it in acetone to clean off what looked to be just a small amounts of crud in the devices.
I could not believe the extent of doctoring that this exposed.
The coin appears to have had three different foreign substances applied to the surface after what I think to have been a cyanide cleaning. There was some kind of malleable metal used to fill hits and a putty was used to fill scratch's pits and the like and then some kind of what I think was wax used to smooth it all out. Then after all that color was applied. The acetone took the putty off
I got the wax to come off by sticking the coin in the freezer and it crumbled right off but the metal is still stuck to the coin. I think its liquid solder or something like it?I have no old photos of the coin but it looked MS when I first got it. Here are the before and after the acetone bath photos.
I could not believe the extent of doctoring that this exposed.
The coin appears to have had three different foreign substances applied to the surface after what I think to have been a cyanide cleaning. There was some kind of malleable metal used to fill hits and a putty was used to fill scratch's pits and the like and then some kind of what I think was wax used to smooth it all out. Then after all that color was applied. The acetone took the putty off
I got the wax to come off by sticking the coin in the freezer and it crumbled right off but the metal is still stuck to the coin. I think its liquid solder or something like it?I have no old photos of the coin but it looked MS when I first got it. Here are the before and after the acetone bath photos.
Give the laziest man the toughest job and he will find the easiest way to get it done.
0
Comments
Tom
WS
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
<< <i>The OP sure sounds like they know what is going on with the coin. I think it was just recolored and is not worth the trouble of the fixes he describes. Just get rid of it on eBay. It's a loser. >>
For the amount he spent on the coin originally, I think that he might keep it for a "teaching" too, either to himself or other collectors he runs into. To "get rid of it on eBay" is a sham because someone might "fix it up" and sell it otherwise.
-Paul
The first picture shown clearly shows wear, and other problems.
Early copper should be left to those in the know.
This coin was clearly a problem from the get go.