Professional Coin Restoration?

Yes, if I go ahead, I'll post good photos.

 

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Come on Doug, call it what you always do - CLEANING!

 

I think that sometimes, restoration involves a 10x microscope and either a rose thorn or a toothpick depending upon the amount of debris on the coin.

 

I agree.

 

I also think that attempting to pigeon hole a precise difference between conservation and restoration is an exercise in futility since both terms can mean many different things about many different subjects.

Restoration of Automobiles often involves many thing which would destroy a coins value. Namely sanding, priming and painting in addition to actually having parts cast and pured from scratch (such as Model T's or Model A's)

Conservation of ART involves careful cleaning of painted surfaces and proper storage techniques with limited lighting which causes colors to fade.

For coins, conservation and restoration involve nothing more than "messing" with a coin to "change" its appearance and hopefully preserve that appearance for future generations. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

 

Conservation/preservation is the process that's hard to pinpoint, because we won't know for 20 to 50 to 100 years whether the technique was successful. For restoration, we see immediate results, sometimes good for a bump in grade, and thus a higher price. I will be satisfied if some professionals somewhere can change the surface appearance of the obverse into a normal color. In my case, I expect a successful restoration to add 30% to 40% to the value of the coin. Will take the coin out of the bank and post good photos next week. My guess is that a lot of high-grade 19th Century coins have been "restored," whether by PCGS, NGC, or a swipe with the shirt-tail.

 

I know that the last Morgan I conserved, I sanded down and primed out the pits before giving it a good shellacking...looks awesome now... : - )

 

GDJMSP;

But I do agree with the dictionary. You are the one not interpreting what is written. By use of the word "and", which means by dictionary definition: along with, as well as; in addition to, besides and also. It makes restoration and preservation separate entities. They have their own identity. You need both because they are both different. They have their own definitions. Conservation by this definition, requires two separate needs to be completed.

 

NCS (part of NGC) is a great resource for getting rid of ugly splotchy stains on coins. I had terrific luck with them on the restoration of a 1797 British 2 Pence. The coin had loads of detail, just kind of ugly from what looked like a dark chemical splash on the coin. Was able to buy the coin for $70, then spend another $50 to have NCS doctor and slab the coin (AU58), -it's now worth at least $500 on the open market.

 

I haven't been so fortunate. All mine have been over 150 years old and get slapped with the Improperly Cleaned label. I guess it's almost expected on the older U.S. coins. One day maybe I'll get lucky.

 

Might have been the same thing for me had I sent the coin in for grading separate from the restoration submission. You can send a coin to NCS asking that they send the coin to NGC when they are finished with it. I suppose there are some instances when it might come back net-graded that way, but the chances are much lower because they have a pretty high opinion of their own restoration abilities.

 

I was wondering why PCGS do not share how they restore coins ! I mean everyone says that cleaning them lowers the value , but what the heck are they doing !!! T.N.

 

Harshly cleaning has some applications too, no question about that. Take the SSCA gold ingots for instance, they called it conservation but in reality just a euphemism for harshly cleaning all of the crud off these gold bars after they sat on the ocean floor for over a century. Of course there are are some who claim the more original ingots with red all over them are somehow more desirable, but the prices realized at auction do not suggest any discount for the harshly cleaned bars over original bars with iron oxide and other contamination adhered to it. The cleaned bars look far more impressive to the uninitiated, and what's the point in owning one of these ingots if you can't impress the hoi polloi with it?

 

The hard part is learning if a coin should have anything done to it. Some coins can be helped but others should not be messed with.

Next is learning the proper type of cleaning. That's a long list and if you get it wrong you have a harshly cleaned coin.

I feel this is where the services come in. They have the best chance at getting it right. I trust NGC the most because of how long they have been doing it. I understand that ICG does good work. Not sure what to think about PCGS. Don't seem to hear much about the work they do.

 

Depending on what it looks like, I might leave it alone.
It's a good date coin with (maybe) original surfaces.
Once you start putting it in chemical baths, even if they restore/conserve it
those original surfaces are gone. It may be gray because that's what happens
after 100 years.