Hi everyone, So I was hanging out with a friend the other day who is a metal detecting addict. He has a ton of old coins and gave me a few. I got some large cents, seated liberty quarters, mercury dimes, etc... All of the coins were in pretty rough shape though with the exception of this dime. He has been doing this for a long time and only recently in the past few years has learned how to properly care for coins. I asked and he couldn't remember if he cleaned this or not. So I was wondering if you guys could take a look and I could get your thoughts on the coin. Judging by the horizontal scratch marks and the look of it I think he may have cleaned it but I wanted to post it here just to be sure. As always, thanks for the help!
It has all the characteristics of a cleaning. If they are dug coins all of them this bright have been cleaned.
Gotcha, thanks for the help guys. Yeah I like it still even if it is cleaned and probably only worth face value. I think it was one of his underwater (freshwater) finds, probably buried in clay for decades.
Cleaned. But still worth more than face value. It’s silver for starters was a solid xf before it was cleaned. A common date. Uncleaned about a $35 coin. Now maybe 1/3-1/2 that. Still a cool find
Those scratches across the face show that it was scrubbed improperly with something abrasive. The dirt may have come off, but he ruined the surface metal of a good coin.
I'm not sure Kodak dip would do anything for this. Its specialty is lightening/removing ugly sulfide toning. The only problem I see here is the horizontal abrasions.
Being that it was in the ground, I wondered if the kodak dip would have done a better job than the abrasive cleaning.
That IS the type of lack of wear that the Kodak dip helps look nice, if you dilute it and pull it before it goes blast white. I use baking soda solution as a "stop" bath. Then distilled water, then an acetone rinse.
