MS68 1831 Half Dime value

Several dippings and a recent one. I'll bet what appears to be a hint of toning (top obverse) is lighting. Anyway, still a nice coin - notice how all the stars are full, that's more common on proofs.

 

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Well Doug, I was wondering when it would happen. But I respectfully disagree. I have coins that my Great-Great Grandfather collected in the 1870s that are blast white and have never been dipped. And how do you explain all of those bags of Morgan and Peace dollars that are all blast white? Surely if these coins were all toned, they would sell them at a premium and not clean the color off of them. As far as I"m concerned, there is only one way to properly dip a coin. And that is a quick acetone bath which in my experience does not remove all toning.

 

In the past toning was not desirable, so "everyone" including dealers dipped coins so they could sell them. How do you know your family's coins have not been dipped? If they're from the 1870's and blast white, they've been dipped, since the technology to keep them free from contaminants (air) didn't exist then - the closest thing today are Air-Tites and they're not 100%. Today, since toning is desirable, if an old coin is blast white, it could mean that it had undesirable toning, and from experience, I've found that that undesirable toning could reappear as the coin retones.

 

agree, it looks like it has been dipped more than once, the photos don't seem to show much luster.

Doesn't look MS-68 to me from the photos.

 

When I pay for lunch at work and the cashier reaches for a fresh BU roll of 2012 Roosevelt dimes, cracks them on the edge of the register drawer, then empties them into the tray...I wonder if I'm simply the protagonist of someone else's dream...200 years from now! ld-guy-smile:

 

I am really not trying to argue with your expertise, I just simply disagree. I understand that nearly all coins of this age have been dipped, and I'm not saying that this one has not been dipped (I would bet that is had been conserved by NCS). I was simply stating that just because a coin is blast white, it does not necessarily mean that it has been dipped. I bring my GG grandfathers collection as an example because I don't think that anyone in the family ever dipped the coins. He stored his coins stacked up, which is likely the reason that many of the coins remained white. the edges clearly show that they were exposed to the elements, but the obverse and reverse remained white. It was not until the 1980s, when I started compiling the collection into albums, that toning started to appear on the coins. It is the reason behind my recent rant about wanting a quality archival album.

I am not against dipping a coin for preservation if done properly, in fact I give just about every coin (minus the coppers) an acetone bath before it goes in an album. It just bothers me that a coin is so quickly thrown under the bus for having been cleaned when I know that it is not always the case.

 

I have coins that I have owned for more then 1 year which have not toned

 

You and I and I'm sure many others know that properly dipping a coin is not a bad thing, but many collectors will stay away from a coin that is stated as having been dipped because we all preach about the fact that a coins value is lost after cleaning. The fact that the difference between a dip and a harsh cleaning is not clear to everyone is the reason that I say that a coin is being thrown under the bus.

As far as my familys collection goes, I'm fairly confident that the proofs were obtained from the mint, but others were pulled from circulation. I can not say with any certainty that the coins have never dipped, I just don't believe that they have been due to the fact that the edges show the color that I would expect for coin of any age.

 

Would anybody dare crack this coin out of a NGC MS-68 slab to try and get that grade at PCGS ?

I'll assume this is probably the finest known or highest graded.

I contend it is at its' maximum grade level already and might come back as a 67 or lower if cracked out.

Where's the CAC sticker ?

I'd never buy this coin at these prices.

 

I agree. Way too white. Honestly, I have CBHD's that look about this good, and if I saw this one in a dealer's case I would not buy it. I own one that is this white and am embarrassed I own it.

Btw, not saying mine would grade 68, but unless you put mine side by side with his I believe most people would believe they are similar. I have never had mine graded. These coins used to be very common in nice BU condition for around $150-200 in the 90's.

 

Trust Doug on these historical comments -- he lived through them

 

I don't know Doug , Before I became a tool and die maker I worked in a metal lab , one of my jobs was to take samples of transmission gears , cut them , polish them and then etch them in acid to do micro structures . You could always see the difference in the before etched and after . Where the metal was more squared before it was definitely more rounded after . Now we are talking some pretty high magnification probably 2-300 X so maybe it's not comparable to a 20X loupe , but I'm sure if you seen enough pieces whether early die state or late die state one would be able to tell . But I never thought about the early and late die states before so I learned something new again . Thanks .