I'll never get so lucky again. Three stage restoration of 3-Cent Silver.

You can if it's been dipped more than once or twice. That is what all of the really nice MS62 coins are without blemishes that people wonder why they aren't MS65s.

 

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Not if it was done properly

 

I don't think it's dishonest. Dipping (when done correctly) has been considered a proper coin conservation process for decades. Nearly all of our blast white 19th century slabbed coins have been dipped...and nobody will tell you that when they sell them to you. Every dealer (and smart buyer) will already know it. This coin was in a damaged slab, removed, conserved in an appropriate manner and re-slabbed. Nothing wrong with that.

Now, on the other hand if this coin had some kind of non-removable damage (harshly cleaned as an example) and was slabbed as such...then a buyer bought it and removed it from the slab to sell as problem free. Then THAT would be unethical.

The difference here is the OPs coin was able to be conserved in a proper manner. I think he took a risk and it worked out for him...sometimes they do not. But there is nothing unethical here.

 

Dipping a coin removes a small amount of the surface of the coin which takes some of the luster away. Dipping for too long (be it multiple dips or one long one) will remove too much luster. An over-dipped coin will have muted luster and that is quite obvious. When that happens the coin has been ruined and it's easy to tell.

Outside of a coin having no toning when it normally should, a properly dipped coin should not be distinguishable from a non-dipped one. No matter how many times it has been done.

 

I recall a story I read in a publication called "Confessions of a Coin dealer" about a brilliant, white Bust dollar that was making the rounds at a coin show.

All the dealers bemoaned the fact that the coin was dipped or otherwise cleaned and offered a buy price lower in accordance with that belief.

After the coin was sold, the seller told the author of that publication about more dollar sized coins that he owned from the same inheritance.

When the dealer examined them, he found that they had all been coated with a thick layer of lacquer protecting the coins (mostly world crowns from the 1770-1820 period if I remember right) and they were all brilliant white. The Bust Dollar had the lacquer removed.

I couldn't find this publication in my library to refresh my memory but just mention this here to point out that this has been a burning topic for many decades and that things aren't always as they seem.

 

I feel like we all are gonna have to agree to disagree. Ive seen so many Morgans, that i can tell if even the slightest amount of luster is gone. Especially in certain areas of the coin. Now, if its a dull, drab, flat looking philly Morgan then yea maybe one could slip by.
20-20 vision comes in handy.

While were on the subject, i see dead people too, and space ships.

 

Which has what to do with a properly dipped coin?

 

.......look at all the pretty colors!

 

I will bow down to the wisdom of the board, all of whom obviously have seen a dip 1st hand that they werent able to detect evidence of afterwards. Then they looked at the same coin again in 2 years, and again in 5 years. All the while not being able to detect that this Uncicorn and rainbow perfectly dipped coin remain unchanged and so on and so forth for the rest of time. All because the dip doctor was sooo perfect in all aspects, that even the best of the best professionals could not detect this doctors dippety doo.
Ill show myself to the door now

 

That settles it. Changing my I.D. to "Dippety Do Da."

 

What are these things you envision? Ketchup, hot sauce,...?

 

Maybe. I'm sure they include Ammonia, DMSO, toothpicks, Chloroform, weak acids like Acetic acid (found in ketchup and hot sauce), etc.

 

A little bit of knowledge goes a long way...

 

DMSO.

Boy, I haven't heard of that stuff in a long time.

 

Sounds like something I used to do back in the Seventies.

 

Neigh!

 

All I remember was that if you got it on your hands you got a fishy taste in your mouth.

 

I'm pretty sure you are thinking of something else......

 

Actually not. Working in chemistry, DMSO was not an unknown chemical, and although I never really worked with it in any quantity, I had many friends that did.