This is what overdipping looks like. I won't reveal the seller because there's no doubt in my mind that he's not responsible for this horror. I've never seen anything else like this from him, and he makes no attempt to represent it as anything but "evaluate this coin yourself" with images always good enough to do so.
I get what you mean about it being over dipped but this is nothing compared to this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/1893-Columb...hash=item2c6a89339f:m:mPGQuvUu8HnsT5yYP6AYbSw
Out of curiosity, in 10-100 years, do you think it will recover from the dipping and look somewhat normal?
Julian Liedman.... Redbook contributer and member of the PCGS board of experts. Selling his business strike as a proof. He had more than one of these that he claimed was a proof.
If he is on the PCGS board of experts, my first question is: why is the coin in an NGC (Details) slab? (Maybe there are rules against them submitting their own coins to PCGS?)
I think the coin @SuperDave posted has a chance to recover and gain some sort of dark color back someday. Sorry if I may have hijacked the thread. Back on topic
Not as a Mint State piece. The microstructure which forms luster is physically removed, and cannot return. It can only recover through circulation, obviously in one's pocket in this case, as a coin with more wear. I've been waiting for one like this to post here, as an illustration of what overdipping does to a coin. It's not always easy to photograph realistically. And it's final.
Dipping is bad, mmmkay? No, dipping is actually sometimes healthy for the coin...OVERdipping is bad. The problem is knowing how much is too much.
It's actually a good candidate for a coin doctor tone job. I'd bet a good doc could layer-on a market acceptable toning onto this one, which would hide the hits and transgressions nicely. Looking into my crystal ball, I see MS66 or maybe MS67 in this coin's future, with many oohs and ahhs as it gets a green bean. Cynical? yes, but I've seen such coins and I'm sure this is an intermediate step in the process. It's just that the seller, like most folks who dip coins, is unethical enough to destroy a coin by dipping (maybe it was really ugly...), but still ethical enough (or perhaps simply unskilled at the craft) that they don't go further and retone it into a monster. This is one reason I like copper, as it's easier to detect these kind of shenanigans.