Stinger, I'm with you on this. In fact, I've done similarly several times with dollars & halves & then carried them as pocket pieces so that they could continue their extraordinary "lives". (I usually wind up giving them away to admirers or non-believers. ) There's no sense in abandoning a specimen merely because its "collectible value" is compromised by an ugly condition. Remember, "Ugly is only skin deep, but beauty goes all the way to the core!"
My pocket piece is one of those pad-printed colorized 1921 Morgans. I soaked it in acetone for a year and finally bumped the last bits off with a toothpick, to find that they had scratched it with brillo or sandpaper to get the printing to adhere. I figure I'll wear it down to an F-12 and maybe it will straight grade. Meanwhile, I bought an 1881 Ag3 Morgan from a dealer's junk box to keep the 1921 company.
Silver is silver. IT depends upon what you want in your collection, and why you have a collection. If leaving it to heirs, clean it. To me it is more pleasing to view it cleaned. The bullion value has not been altered. GSDykes - in Washington
Keep at it and maybe someday you’ll be as discerning a collector as I am Actually came in a group but I can’t let go of any early stuff just in case it’s some super rare type.
QUOTE="PlanoSteve, post: 24717120, member: 91609"]Stinger, I'm with you on this. In fact, I've done similarly several times with dollars & halves & then carried them as pocket pieces so that they could continue their extraordinary "lives". (I usually wind up giving them away to admirers or non-believers. )[/QUOTE] Yup, this one is going to my grandson. He just started getting interested; hope it stays with him.