1921-S Walking Liberty half

I know this is a semi Key date, but i found one metal detecting yesterday and was wondering how to "clean" it up, with out damageing it??? Is Acetone the only way???


Sorry its kinda dumb but just wandering.

Thanks Benjy

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

there's always dish soap and warm water

 

haha that wouldnt get the crap off, should i post pics of it????

 

nothing to lose... why not?

My thought is that if it won't come off with acetone or soap and water, then signs of removal will be evident and it may be a bad idea to remove the crud.

 

NCS Might be your only hope but I hate to say it... looks like that poor thing is too far gone to save.

Still, it's a 21-S with at least VF details, I'd still send it off to NCS.

 

Even With it looking like this??? an yea it that what i thought, because the black might be from a fire cuz it is part of a cache that was found.

 

I know I'm not supposed to follow Red Book prices, but in VF it is valued at $900. Of course, you'd take off a huge chunk due to damage, but I do think it would be worth sending it off to NCS. Just my two cents...

 

Do the acetone first... they will still grade it and once it's in the holder you can't acetone bath it. So if you do that first and then send it off it will probably grade better and be worth more.

 

Nice find! When I find crudded up coins from the ground, I dip them in water then freeze them. That will expand the dirt and it sometimes will break off. I can't tell from the picture if it is crud on there, or actually damage to the surface though. Also, I never did that with a key date coin, since I never found one.

 

Interesting idea GBroke. How did you come across that method? I guess if the dirt absorbs enough water it will expand when you freeze it!

 

Google told me a while back.

 

It is a semi-key date.

 

Any coin that is valued at $900 in VF might as well be a key date for me. :|

 

+1

 

I would start with the least harsh method of cleaning it, hot soapy water might help?
Then a Acetone bath for just a couple of seconds beyond that you risk damaging
The coin and yes you get the dreaded details on the grade ;(

 

How do you do an acetone bath?? Ive never done one before......

 

I thought the consensus was that acetone was quite safe for coin surfaces?

 

It is... you can soak them far longer than a few seconds without damage. I'm not too experienced with it, but I've given several coins 15-30 second soaks on both sides and they've been fine.

 

Warm water , and remember dab dont rub. Then Soak in acetone. I have dug plenty of silver that looked far worse and you would be surprised how well it will clean up. Just hope you didn't nick it with your digging tool. When my white's dfx tells me that my target is big silver i dig a larger than normal plug around it, and proceed with a plastic digging tool.