I recently acquired a small Morgan collection, including these two coins, which to me are not attractive. Since I am relatively new I don't know what to make of these. Comments would be appreciated. Should they be cleaned/dipped? [the order of the images got mixed up in the post -- as you can see the top and bottom images go together]
Don't do anything to them. If you don't like them, sell them. Others will like their appearances. Personally, I like the 2nd one quite a bit. Lance.
to get that level of toning off you are going to strip the surface to the point it will be obvious it has been over dipped. Leave them and sell them if they do not fit your collection - just my opinion...
I don't think you should clean them... though the one that is even black looks in actually good shape. Maybe contact a preservation company? 1893 and 1895o are both semi-key dates, if I recall. The 1893 looks to have PVC-residue on it... so maybe acetone, if you know how to do it.
Do you think the gold coloring on the 1st coin is toning? It almost looks like a gold paint applied long ago since the color is mainly in the recesses.
Anything is possible. Although my thoughts on the coins are as follows. Do not clean the coins in any way, both coins are better dates and are worth quite a bit of a premium over any other common date Morgan in the same condition. The 1893 has been cleaned/dipped and has since retoned. The 1895-O might've been cleaned/dipped as well, but not to the extent of the 1893 or not as recent as the 1893. That coin has toned nicely as well. Personally, I don't find them attractive either, like yourself. But, someone would definitely buy both of those coins if they were put up on eBay, or maybe even the Classifieds Section here on Coin Talk.
Years ago, some folks would shellac their coins as a form of "protection". This practice was used primarily on copper, but may have been applied here. The gold coloring could be some old, faded shellac.
