What kind of cleaning is this? Dipping, Polishing, both?

Hey all,

Got another lot of coins of ebay. It came with quite a few coins and a number of them have good details however are way WAY too shiny to be uncleaned. I have yet to see coins like this in person so I am wondering what kind of cleaning job this is and it it decreases the value more than 50%. If I were to sell them at about 50% book, I would still come out ahead than what I paid... Thinking about keeping some of the non-problem coins and getting rid of the cleaned ones. Thoughts?

 

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A couple more, notice how reflective and shiny there are. They are definitely NOT BU, just trying to figure out how they were cleaned. Thanks!

 

OUCH! Probably silver polish and a rag....what a shame.

 

Yeah, they are buffed. Probably polish and a buffer, or even whizzed. Totally unnatural shine, and no natural luster. Shame.

 

Would it be unrealistic to ask / expect about half of book value for coins that look like this? Thanks for the input!

 

I'd expect about 35% of the lowest grade imho

 

Looks like not only polished, but badly scratched too. And it looks like someone carved an "N" into the obverse of the first one.

 

you should change what you buy. cheap does not mean it's a good value.

 

I got them in a lot on ebay. There were no pictures, only dates / mintmarks and a claim that they are in "good condition". Some of them are in pretty good condition. There were 100+ coins in the lot and I took pictures of a few that would have been worth a lot more if they had not been cleaned, etc... If I sold them all individually, I'd still be ok as long as the coins are not completely worthless. I can't say I don't like to gamble a little bit but so far I've done pretty good for the most part.

 

Sounds like Jblade00 got some keepers in the lot also. these may just be a bonus.

 

The first 3 coins pictured remind me of a baking soda cleaning which used to be common practice and some honest wear. The last 2 coins pictured appear shiny, but do they actually look like that or is it the pics? If they look like the first 3 pictured I’d buy them, as they have some ok detail and there is a market for them - I’d prefer them over ones with more wear. If they are as shiny as the last 2, I’d pass.

 

The ones I posted (along with a couple other cull type dimes, etc...) are extremely shiny and obviously not natural toning, etc... I'll post some pics of the "keepers" from this lot in a while. Thanks for the comments

 

Looks like they were rubbed with a jeweler's cloth. But if you got them for PM price I still think its a good deal. And plus if the other coins are keepers it balances out the cleaned ones.

 

If you only paid silver melt for them it was a good deal. As is they are worth the smallest bit over melt. Cleaned is one thing, but all these are sand papered and stomped on kinda cleaned.

Unless I missed some kinda ultra key date. Thats my opinion.

 

Before I post pictures of the better coins, can someone tell me what the deal is with the stars in the 1831? Is it a die variety or is it just typical for the CBH series?

Thanks!

 

It's typical in later die stages for Bust halves .

 

Here are some of the other coins from the lot.

 

Not sure why the 1892 looks so washed out here, it has a lot more red / brown color in it (more natural)