Has anyone used ANACS conservation service?

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by KBBPLL, Nov 29, 2022.

  1. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    I'm curious since I'm considering my first ever TPG submission soon. These (inherited) coins have been in 2x2's for 50 years and my incentive is getting them into more substantial storage, an indication for heirs of what they grade, and from the conservation standpoint alleviating anything that might persist as a long-term problem. These are all silver coins and I perceive that a few of them might be described as "cloudy" or something like that. ANACS has a one price, conserve the ones that need it, style pricing instead of a percentage of the value thing the other two have. It's $49 for 20 coins so I'm thinking why not as long as I'm doing it, but I don't know what they do so I'm interested in what others may have experienced. Thanks in advance.
     
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  3. dwhiz

    dwhiz Collector Supporter

    I did a few year ago and it went well.
    It was on a large group of Lincoln cents.
     
  4. charley

    charley Well-Known Member

    My opinion is that you will be fine (no gold, though).
     
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  5. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    Thanks, yup, don't own any gold, these will all be silver or nickel. I forgot there are a couple nickels in the group. I'll try to get my grandfather's name on the slabs too; I think they'll put anybody on there for a small fee. (If it's somebody famous you'd have to prove it)
     
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  6. Heavymetal

    Heavymetal Well-Known Member

    Will we get before and after pics?
     
  7. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    I will probably image them all when they're out of the 2x2s since I'll have to get them in flips anyway. I have old photos of most or all of them. There's not much to see conservation-wise, a few of them just look a little hazy is all and some typical toning near the rims. These are all Canadian George VI by the way, 1947 Maple Leaf, 1948 and 1949. Yes, I have all the valuable ones courtesy of gramps. I posted here because US people are more likely to have used ANACS. Here's an example but my old photos suck. The coin is not really this discolored and the image makes it look worn when it's really highly reflective and UNC.
    1948_50_final1.JPG
     
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  8. charley

    charley Well-Known Member

    Is the goal to reduce/eliminate the light toning, or just address the haze?
     
  9. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

  10. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    This one shows the kind of toning they have, but again my photos suck. I put it in the MS62-63 range.
    1948_100.jpg
     
  11. Mountain Man

    Mountain Man Supporter! Supporter

    Be sure to post the results. Sounds like a good plan for that price.
     
  12. charley

    charley Well-Known Member

    I am sure you will be satisfied. That is a very doable task and goal.
     
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  13. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    I took the plunge yesterday at the Fort Collins Coin Club fall show, so here's my brain dump.

    Taking them out of their 2x2s Friday night was filled with nostalgia and trepidation; some of these coins had not been held for 50 years, and now they'll be entombed. Mixed feelings about that, but I can always crack them out again (especially if I don't like the results!). Brought back memories of grandpa piling them all on a table and the 5 grandchildren taking turns selecting a coin - I was 13.

    I got the conservation service for 16 coins, they charged $5 a coin for the provenance, and I splurged for their imaging service ($3 a coin). So it could have been cheaper, and some coins may not have been worth it depending on grade. Some of these have a huge jump in value going from 63 to 64 or 65, so we'll see.

    The provenance thing was funny. He (Bill) had to call his ANACS hotline to see if they'd do it and how. I think he talked to Paul, presumably one of the bigwigs. Meanwhile he called Theo(?) over from another table, who I guess might be a frequent dealer of theirs? Another dealer must have overheard the provenance discussion, because then he was there too, complaining that he had asked about this and customer service had refused, telling him it had to be over 500 coins. A long discussion ensued among Bill, Theo and this guy. It kind of sounded like he was really seeking to advertise his business on the label, wanted a special graphic, etc. Being a "fly on the wall" for all of that I found amusing, but it delayed the submission process quite a while.

    It probably took an hour, because my flips were not the size the graders like, so I moved them into the ANACS flips while Bill labeled them with the cert numbers. I carefully checked the submission form while doing so to make sure the right coins were going in the right flips. They all ended up with a rubber band around them and into a ziplock baggie with the submission form, and then under the desk.

    I was nervous since these coins have not left my possession for 50 years, so I asked if they were covered by the insurance from the moment they left my hands. Bill said yes. Whether that's true or not, can't say, but it made me feel better. I asked how the coins go from him to ANACS, whether he drives them back to Englewood CO. He said he overnights all of them after the show. This makes me wonder what service they use and how they're all packaged, but I didn't get details. Bill is based out of Cheyenne and I think he said he would be driving them back up there last night and then shipping to ANACS. He's done this for 12-13 years and never lost a coin, and we knocked on wood.

    I wandered the show afterwards. There were two people at the ANACS table ahead of me when I arrived, and I had to wait there about 15 minutes. But when I was done, most of the show customers had disappeared. There were more dealers than customers, and I got a hard sell from several of them, one in particular pushing me to buy gold because the world is going to end (exaggerating but that was the gist). They could do a better job advertising this show. There were no signs outside, nor any signs inside directing people to which room it was in, so I had to wander around for a bit to find it. I only knew it was happening from the ANACS email.

    ANACS had a tray of sample slabs so I got a freebie out of the deal.
    Canada_ANACS.jpg
     
  14. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    Might as well update progress here, in case anyone cares. Got emailed an order number today, so at least something got to ANACS. Now the waiting beings. Expected ship date 1/16/23 (I'm sure the special labels and photographing slows it down).

    The funny thing is when I logged in, now there are several 5-23 year old completed orders showing for a guy in Cincinnati with exactly the same name as me. I alerted them to this, not sure that it matters.

    Edit: Ha, immediately after I posted this, they emailed and said they corrected that. Great customer service so far!
     
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  15. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    Order was updated yesterday morning (Weds) with a full list of the cert #s and years (no country or denominations). I suspect there won't be another update for a while.
     
  16. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    After no progress since my last post, I received a message from Paul today, with a question about one of my coins. I logged in and noted that all the denominations had been updated this morning. I know this because I've logged in every day since submitting, to see if anything changed. Paul called again. The question is regarding my profile coin, 1947 50c ML CR Specimen, the most valuable of the bunch. PCGS had given this UNC Details - Cleaned. I strongly disagree. Paul said they agree that it is not cleaned, but they think there's a thin layer of lacquer on it. So he was asking my permission to remove the lacquer. I asked what they use and he said he doesn't know. He said the conservation guy is very good and extremely picky, etc. Worst case is the lacquer removal causes it to be considered "cleaned", but he said the chance was very low. I said go ahead and do it. He hinted that if all goes well it might be SP65, which would please me to no end, but we'll see.

    Now I'm curious if anyone has had lacquer removed, and how it went. I did not see the lacquer myself, but I don't know what that looks like. Anyway, figured I'd update the topic.
     
  17. SilverMike

    SilverMike Well-Known Member

    I’ve been following your thread. I was at the same show and agree the advertising could be better. They get a lot more traffic at the spring show at The Ranch as it is right on I-25 and partners with a gem show to increase traffic.
    I hope you get good results with your submission. I’ve used ANACS a lot over the years and always had good service and nothing has gotten lost.
     
  18. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    It's great that there's a "local" on here out of the wide wide world of coin collecting! Were you there as a dealer or customer? I could probably be more proactive and actually attend one of the coin club meetings after all these years. I've been to one or two of their shows before. The lacquer thing with the one coin makes me nervous.
     
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  19. SilverMike

    SilverMike Well-Known Member

    At that show I was a very small dealer (first show I sold at, low expectations). I’ve attended their shows for a while though. I keep intending to go to a meeting but haven’t yet either.
     
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  20. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    They updated the "lacquer coin" with the 50c denomination this morning. They had updated all the denominations on Friday except for this one - it was still blank. I wonder if that means conservation was completed? I'm just using this thread as my personal progress tracker. :)
     
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  21. KBBPLL

    KBBPLL Well-Known Member

    The results are in!

    9 of the 16 coins are designated "This coin was selected for conservation services." I can't wait to see if I can tell the difference. Interestingly (to me), they conserved the 1948 $1 but not the 1947 ML $1. (Keep in mind these are all Canadian). I thought the 47 ML looked more grungy. Both of these big-dollar coins got MS62. Kind of what I figured, but hoped for 63.

    All of my raw grandpa coins got MS grades, all 62 or 63, with the exception of my 1931 5c, which got AU58, and my 1949 25c, which got UNC Details - Scratched. The 5c I thought was a slider and might get 63, but apparently it got slid too much. The 25c I don't have images of, so I'll have to see where the scratch is. Too much love in the album probably. Which sucks. Overall, grandpa sure got some nice coins.

    I thought my 50c coins (47ML, 48, 49) might have done better, but they all got 63. Can't complain. These all got conserved. My 1947 ML 5c is disappointing at MS62 - I had it at 64 or even 65, very well struck. Oh well.

    The dark horse was the 1947 ML 50c Curved Right Specimen. The one with the lacquer supposedly. Conserved. They are showing a grade of "S2", and I have no idea what that means. Any clue? Their pop report doesn't show specimen coins so I have no way of deciphering it. And... before I could hit "post", the VP responded to my email and said it means SP62. Woohoo!!! PCGS bagged it as UNC Details - Cleaned and I knew it wasn't. Score one for me! This was not grandpa's coin, but I had it labeled as such anyway. (And I just doubled my investment with the straight grade...) And score one for ANACS customer service, when the VP responds within 30 minutes.

    I had three other "crack outs" in ICCS holders. 1948 10c crossed at MS63. 1948 25c went from MS60 to MS61 (hmm). 1946 $1 went from MS60 to MS62. I knew the last one was undergraded by ICCS, but they used to be very conservative relative to US TPGs.

    Overall, I'm satisfied. The coins are protected, conserved, reasonably graded, and my heirs will know what they're dealing with - my goals achieved. Now the real tension begins - the shipping.
     
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