eBay leap of faith: 500 Indian Cents in a vintage storage box

Yep! Still looking for that 1894-s Barber dime in a dealer's junk box!

I came across a listing on eBay that I would normally have raced past. Vague pictures, seller does not accept returns.

Now, I know better! It's a veritable mine field of red flags!




No close ups or pictures of the individual coins. So, I go to the next step. What else does this guy sell? Oh! Farm equipment. Encouraging. His eBay handle also alludes to service in the Navy. Hmmm.

I see that there is considerable vertigris on some of the coins in the seller's picture of the inside of the box. Also, that many of the coins are bent is evident from the side. This collection was not started in the 1920s, that's certain! (My guess is somewhere around the 30s, 40s. Can anyone confirm that IHCs still popped up in circulation that late?) But, I manage to convince myself that solely based on the edge of the coins, that there might be a catch or two in the bunch.

Foolishly, I place a bid over the 1st and only bidder. I go back later to retract it and can't! Too late, my bed is made! I end up winning the damned things for $254.89 total. Okay, not too bad. That's only 51 cents a coin I have to make back and the box is kinda cool!

D-day. They arrive. I knew I was going to need an effective remedy to try to salvage as many as I could. That's when my search directed me back to this forum.

In a nut shell, you use 9 parts sodium bicarbonate and 7 parts sodium carbonate in distilled water. I did 4 1/2 tsp of the one and 3 1/2 of the other and about 3 cups of water. (I learned that it is very potent!) The OP talks about letting them soak for 2 weeks and then repeating with fresh water for another 2 weeks. Mais non! I have 500 souls to save (or ruin). I prepared the mixture in an aluminum pan on the stove top at a med low setting, still low enough that I could stick my hand in briefly.

It sure made the pan nice and clean!

Time to sort and count:



My excitement grew when I realized these weren't just post 1900 coins! The 1880s were well represented. (A complete break down in a minute - first the bad news.)

I was reckoning with 250 culls. After my restoration attempts, which worked a little more than half the time, I ended up with only 117. And yes, yiikes! Graffiti, bent coins, severely corroded coins. Mutilated, abused, you name it!




First, the clean up. These had to go! I posted one of those ridiculous "mystery lot" auctions on eBay with a heinous "Buy it Now" of $35.00!

BAM! The posting was up less than an hour! I felt almost guilty. I added several more coins that were better dates, but outside my personal condition tolerance zone, and a nice VF/XF 1901 to the lot as a surprise bonus.

Now, to the brew: I was able to save about half of the coins I considered goners. Here's an example:

Before:



After:



I expected the coins to be in the G/VG range. And most were.

Then! No Way! I came upon this beauty:




This picture is post conservation. The tricarbonate brew does strip corroded coins and can make them much worse! I learned to immerse the coins very briefly in the hot mixture. 5 minutes - tops for most. These were farm coins. They all had a thick skin of muck and cigar smoke that could be swabbed off after 30-40 seconds in the brew.

My go to cleaner is acetone, but this worked much faster.

However, going from the sodium to acetone on corroded coins that have soaked a while in the carbonate proved to be a big mistake! The result was a disastrously porous coin! There was also a dusty, orange residue from the coins as a result of sitting for too long. I discovered that one bad apple does spoil the whole bunch. I did a batch of culls together. About 50 of them. The badly corroded ones darkened the whole bunch. Glad I learned that on the practice coins! When that happens, you can dip the coin in a mix of acetone and hydrogen peroxide for 20 seconds only. Longer than that and you'll ruin the copper coin. That also works for coins that have taken on a blue tint. Sorry, but blue copper is not something that occurs in nature. I don't care what environment the coin has been exposed to. It is a tell-tale sign of a chemical treatment. Change my mind.

A little longer soak did help the corroded coins, and in a few cases made the date readable, where it wasn't before. But, the payoff was: A corroded Indian cent in G/VG condition that was now dirt-free, but still very much corroded, the surfaces clean, but rough with a surface liked to a lunar landscape. Pointless!

So, when the dust settled, I counted:

117 culls (SOLD!)

3 AG coins - all 1880s

308 respectable G/VG

24 Fine - best 1891

28 VF - best 1883 !!!

16 XF - 1890 and 1899

4 AU coins, including a 1907 with diamonds so sharp they'll cut your fingers. And luster!

Highlights of the G/VG category

1 1884
2 1886 (both Ty 1)
3 1894s

17 healthy coins from the 1880s

25 keepers from 1890-1893

ZERO 1909

ZERO 1908-S (I looked carefully!!)

A run from 1880 - 1908, (1881 and 1884 too corroded to keep. No 1885!) Which are starting to fill yet another NOS Whitman folder until further notice. I'm still in the process of clean... um, "conserving".

So, did it work? I'm projecting a profit of $100 - $150, if I can field a price of 75 cents or better on the G/VG, and keep close to grey sheet wholesale on the full LIBERTY coins.

... and my nostalgic Whitman folder with 27 G/VG coins to keep in a plastic bag in the back of my closet for the next 25 years.

Two more prizes to show and then I'm going to take a break.

Happy hunting!

 

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Wow! Nice write-up. The coins I see look amazing in the before/after Pics.
A lot of work for the amount of profit, no? I mean it looks like a ball to look at and a joy to handle such history.
I'm sure you'll do fine in the long run.....

 

I have similar collections of these coins which I learned a half-century ago DON'T TRY CLEANING COPPER COINS.

The coins have been given to many as gifts, mixed with other U.S. Copper cents as 50 coin lots.

My extensive collection of Gold, Silver, Copper coins has been to learn, for my education, which is still being advanced.

I've just advanced to certified pre-1933 Gold U.S. coins, because of what "junk" I see being offered in various sites.

If you want to get a reasonable refund of your monetary investment, I'm still looking for pre-1910 cents/coins to share with others!

GREAT POST, THANKS!

Respectfully, RICH

 

Oh! And before concerns arise, I clearly identified the culls I sold as JUNK!

The listing was active for EIGHT MINUTES time elapsed from insertion to order! Yet the natives will flat out ignore a gem I post at an insanely low price for months and months!

I don't get eBay. I don't get it!

 

Nope! Acetone or soap and water to remove surface dirt and grime, and that's it.

These coins were caked in a century of nicotine and grime from a time when a cigar was a staple of society. The bath I gave them came out golden yellow!

I brought 28 of 57 coins in my "maybe" pile back. The rest got body-bagged. But these are 50 cent G/VG pennies, too. More for the sport of the hunt. And my trophy will be 4-10 nice coins I kept after getting my original money back, so, practally "free' coins.

I could also sink a lot of money and effort into buying expensive equipment and paying membership fees to chase a golf ball around the grass with a stick all day.

 

A nice lot. I was still seeing IHCs in change in the early to mid 80s, but not later.

 

Big project, but fun

 

Thanks for mentioning all from start to finish, a very interesting read.

 

1907 (l.) awaits its turn while the 1906s finish their swim in the acetone. After trying out several methods. Soaking for 20 min. in acetone is truly the only reliable method that conserves without messing with the coins' original characteristics.

 

Epilogue: I do not recommend the baking soda, sodium carbonate mixture for treating copper coins. It leaves the surfaces with a porous texture and evidence of etching. You end up with a "sandy" coin in the worst case.

Acetone only. Then work mildly with a cotton swab. (I do find that boiling the coin in soapy water first helps loosen the dirt - just don't use a kind that has blue dye added!) If the gunk doesn't come off easily, it's not a keeper.

 

Epilogue: All coins sold! I made a little less than $50, and got a couple of nice keepers. (The seller pointed out in his listing that there were "no coins of value" in the box!)

I am left with 4 coins in XF/AU, the 1904 is now the FREE incumbent in my type set. Eventually, I will endeavor to build as much of the set with "free" coins as I can.

The other three linger stubbornly on eBay. I will shake them soon enough!



Part TWO is just plain FUN!

The second trophy is a rework of an album I got in the 70s as a Cub Scout! (1974?) Faced with hard times, I sold the coins in that album and my Liberty Nickels in 2006. Nice XF and AU coins too!

Well, she's baaaaack. I set aside 13 of the nicest VF coins for a beautifully matched run: Very pleasing!









(And, YEAH! 3 1894s - all AG/G in the lot, but not ONE 1909!)

So, made a little money, inhaled a lot of acetone, and got to keep a few trophies!

Next up, I have located a NEW Wayte-Raymond folder with slides I shall put together! Something about a well-matched, well-groomed folder that just does it for me. This is one series that is still beautiful in a VG grade.

I'm a Cub Scout again!

 

This is simply amazing, thanks for the writeup. You took a big chance, but it turned out well, not only for the coins but for the education as well.

 

"V-e-r-d-i-g-r-i-s"! Come on, Matt!

The fingers just go where they want to on my keyboard anymore! LOL!

 

@Cincimatti, I have to say that I learn a LOT from reading your posts. They're very educational...especially your tip about soaking coins in acetone for 20 minutes tops. Also can feel your excitement about your hobby ooze from the screen. After reading and observing here at CT, I think I'll begin making my first purchases through coin dealerships as opposed to online auctions per vets' advice. Get my feet wet so to speak.

 

What a nice compliment! Thank you! But, you're doing the right thing. Better to get your feet wet than your head soaked.

Join a coin club, go to coin shows. Just be fine-tuned into seeing who is really sincere and who isn't.

I had some new "friends" all convince me that a trade dollar I got from my aunt was counterfeit, so I was relieved when one offered to buy it for $20.

Knowing them a little better now, and seeing how they behave and speak about others, I was foolish to have trusted them.

(That's why I'm not crying that the one sold me an 1892 (or 96?) Barber quarter, for $7.00, but missed the "s" on the reverse! Baaa-phooey!) I hope you find true mentors and enthusiastic collectors to guide you, and not a just a band of opportunistic Jawas. Lord knows, they abound!

 

Yeah, and "wash coins", but don't "clean them"! Clear Dawn dish soap heated on the stove does well. (The blue tinted kind actually tints copper!) But don't overdo it! Loosen the dirt and let the acetone remove it. I don't monkey with silver beyond the acetone.

 

Don't warm the acetone on the stove!

 

And, I find myself at the end of the journey!

(I ended up successfully selling both the Whitman Bookshelf album and the Folder I had assembled too! So no massive number of keepers - only 9 remain, partly because they WON'T SELL! Arrrrrgh!)

The profit earned from the sale garnered:

1 keeper 1904 AU that is now the rep. in my type set!



- and another 1904 XF that is now in my 20th Century Type folder.

Then, 7 VF/XF coins on eBay that are not drawing any bids as of yet!




PLUS! The grand prize. I made just enough to buy my first "S" Indian Cent! A 1908-S PCGS (under) graded IHC that for all intensive porpoises was FREE (to me)! (That is better than a VF25! Prove me wrong!)

What a fun adventure!

 

NO! Dawn strips away too much of the essence of the coin's patina! It has sodium laurel sulfate. And it turns the coin blue! (Ya had me at "sodium", arch-nemesis to both slugs and copper coins.)

Far more effective was near-boiling water with a few shavings of IVORY SOAP! Rinse very, very well afterwards, then soak in acetone, if you're a neurotic perfectionist, like me! Leave them out a few weeks to recover and tone back a little. The results are super duper satisfying!



I've read about people picking at dirt with a toothpick! Oh, I'm not so sold on that idea! But really, after the bath in the Ivory and hot, hot water, the gunk just swabs off so easily with a Q-tip! Even between the letters. Spots that don't come off this way, are more than likely permanent. Too bad, so sad!