Apologies in advance for the poor photos, but this is the best I can do it seems with my phone. I got a Mercury dime that looks lustrous and mint state, except it seems to have black stains (particularly on the obverse) that I assume are PVC stains. I have put this in acetone and it might have slightly improved it, but it doesn't seem to completely go away. Perhaps my pics will add to the confusion. Anyway, suggestions on this coin would be appreciated. One thing I have learned from this forum is that black is not good on a coin, no matter how small.
It's hard to tell what you are seeing. PVC is usually green, black is from toning to something corrosive. Dark spots would take something much stronger than acetone. With out better pics it is hard to tell you with way you should go.
Thanks. These stains are weird, because they do not look like normal toning, but at the same time do not appear to be PVC (if it's supposed to be green). I just have gotten weird batches of coins lately, so I've been performing surgery lately with acetone and a toothpick. This one I believe came alone from an eBay order. I'll see if I can post a better pic.
Yeah, that is something that you shouldn't mess with give it a rinse in didtilled water and put it away. It looks to be environmental, trying to remove that would ruin the coin. Here is a merc that I found in coinstar. It has the same type of toning.
So I take it the coin I posted has environmental damage, or would it straight grade? I assume it is damaged, since I tend to be conservative. It is my fault for not more carefully scanning the pics on eBay - sometimes I put too much trust in the title and positive reviews. I just try to avoid problem coins as much as possible - grrrrrr!!! Shaking my head like I'm insane in the membrane.
It’s a common date and isn’t worth more than spot price. Therefore it would make a good candidate to try what @Pickin and Grinin suggested.
It looks like a solid coin depending on what you paid. Deep black toning well, any toning is part of the metal. When you try to remove the toning metal is removed, luster is removed. The surface will look like you removed something. Black toning though is desirable but only if you like dark coins. It is there to stay if you want to keep the luster.
Thanks for your responses. After reviewing this with a 5x loupe, it's possible it's just tarnish. I thought it might have been a liquid substance, or some type of environmental chemical, which I wouldn't rule out, but it doesn't seem to have created pitting - at least using 5x magnification. So maybe it is a legit mint state coin as sold to me. I paid about $10, which seems standard for mint state Mercury dimes nowadays. I might just add it to my new tube.
OK, I am not an expert here, so I looked at it with 30x magnification, and I just am not a fan of this tarnish - if that's what it is. I know graders don't use 30x, as far as I know, but it looks like the tarnish is somewhat eating into the metal, but maybe many coins would look like this with a 30x loupe. I just like the simple rule that black tarnish is bad. I might just resell this piece - I'll think about it. A lesson for me is to just be more careful inspecting coins before buying.
Well, to be fair the tarnish on your coin looks more uniform. Something about the tarnish on my coin seems off, like it's been exposed to a particularly harsh chemical in the environment, or maybe it's because my aim was to buy a mint state coin - so I want it to be unequivocally such. I'm not opposed to tarnish in general, and even darkish tarnish on circulated Peace dollars can look good. But when it comes to mint state coins, especially when I buy them slabbed, I prefer blast white - so yeah, it's a personal preference.
It's terminal state black toning. There's nothing that you can do about it otherwise further damaging the coin.
