I had my loupe out inspecting my new to me 1883 shield when I grabbed my 66 to look at something that didn't look right in the shield. I have never seen a doctored coin before, and I hope this is something else, but I can't help but to think that this debris looks like solder... if so I'm not happy about it, but i don't want to jump to conclusions, especially since it's not a rare or expensive coin...not enough that I would think someone would go through the trouble to "fix" it anyways.
It's nothing to worry about on a coin of this grade. It's just junk of some type stuck to the coin. I would not try to mess with the coin in any way, trying to remove it. The coin looks just fine the way it is.
Thank you @ldhair I just wasn't sure if it could have been someone's practice patching job. But seeing what you can of the coin what grade would you give it? When I compare with photograde I'm seeing XF45-AU50 but I'm also pretty new to this and am always wanting someone with experiences input. And now that I did that I'm seeing a rotation on the die alignment? Is that common for these older coins?
@eddiespin it looks metallic like solder or JBWeld. I've never used acetone but once... I have a 78CC Morgan with a black dot on her ear. I used it lightly and locally with no luck...I'm just scared of affecting any toning on a coin. Have you had luck with acetone and it not affecting patina/surface, other than foreign materials, on any type of metal? I don't usually look for rotated dies on coins when I'm checking them out, but I've seen it mentioned on here a lot with error-checkers.
@moneycostingmemoney, acetone might loosen it up if it's a caked-on glue or something sticking like that, but that's about the only real use I've ever had for acetone. On the toning--and it's funny you should ask about toning, because nobody else seems to think this--I'm of the opinion acetone dulls the toning ever so slightly. On the rotation, yours is maybe 10-12%, and that makes it out of tolerance, which makes it an error. There's no price guide on these so you basically take your chances someone is willing go deeper into their wallet for it. Hope this helps.
Acetone cannot affect toning, the inorganic chemical tarnishing process of coin metal. It's that simple. The science is clear. What it can do, though, is affect anything organic which has accrued to the coin, and if that organic stuff is not evenly coating the coin, you can end up with something which has clearly been "treated."
