Stopped in the coin shop the other day and my guy says: "I got a couple of raw 1921 high relief peace dollars from a collection i just got if you want to see." I say "Oh hell yeah." Out of the four, two had hardly any luster left and excessive wear on the devices. The other two had luster but this one had the better looking devices and stronger luster. It looked like the group of coins had been together for years because the toning was similar on all of them. I am actually impressed with the amount of luster this coin has. The eagle on the reverse looks to have some wear but strike is a common issue with 1921 peace dollars. I have seen mint state examples with the eagles feathers looking flat in that spot on the lower breast so it is possible alot of the detail missing could be due to the strike. All in all I am glad to finally have one of these. The only thing that sucks is it has a small amount of some black residue top & center on the reverse... Maybe an acetone soak will break it up...
I say, give it a try. Never used the stuff but have heard good things. I personally would just leave it be if the Acetone doesn't work.
Maybe an acetone soak will break it up, Maybe. But that almost looks like tape or tape residue by IBU and has the possibility of leaving uneven toning. I would leave it be.
Nice! Acetone won't change the toning on the coin, It will remove any organics that may be adding to the tones. I would start with a simple distilled water soak and maybe rolling a qtip over the surfaces. Rolling not rubbing.
It will straight grade. Before you do that though while it's still free can you see if you can get a crisp closeup of just that area? When I first saw it I was thinking a peeling, laminated area, aged. There's a lot of irregularity going on there.
You might examine it closely, too. See if it's off plumb anywhere with the surface level, that would be a tell.
Stellar photogs old boy........acetone soak, but I don't believe that will do much to improve the current condition of things as I don't believe what we're seeing is organic in nature. Worth a 'go'. Keep us posted.
That's really good to know, I honestly had no idea. I thought it was just some sort of residue. That's whats good about posting newly aquired raw coins on here. Sometime people will point out things that I am not aware of. THANKS A TON EDDIESPIN!