PL and DMPL vs Plating

Can anyone give me indicators to tell if a coin has been plated? I've seen some that were super obvious. They just looks soft and poorly detailed. But are there factors that beginners should know that can help avoid buying plated coins. Like:

1. Do plated coins ever retain mint luster?
2. Do plated coins cover hairline cleaning?
3. Do plated coins have any give aways?
4. Can you chemically alter a coin to make it mirror like?
anything else im missing?

 

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From my experience :

1) No
2) Yes
3)Yes
4)No

There will be other opinions and I'm sure at least some will differ from mine.

 

The luster one is one of my main concerns. I've never seen a plated coin with luster.

 

When you plate a coin, you are covering up the original surface.

It's kinda like if you paint something.
The surface is still there, but it's covered up. The thicker the plating the more that is covered up and the less "crisp" the detail and more of the Visuals (scratches, crisp details, etc) are lost of the original surface.

 

#4 - Yes. If you put Mercury on a silver coin, it will give it a mirrored look. They called them California Proofs

 

If the entire surface of the coin has the same texture, even the edge, then the coin has been plated.

 

This is the coin that made me make this thread. I got it out of a box of Morgan's. It was very dirty and I gave it a quick soak and it came out way more reflective than I thought. But what is odd is the bust is slightly reflective in the hair. But the eagle on the reverse is not. I don't know what to think of it.

 

Ill get some regular pictures tonight. Unfortunately the coin is very dinged up from being in the box full of Morgan's just sliding around.

 

X2

 

It looks like it's been cleaned and polished.

 

I was thinking polished, but wouldn't I see hairlines?

 

Not if it was done with a soft enough cloth and gently... which would explain why the cartwheel luster is still intact.

 

I feel then maybe the polishing would ruin the luster? I'm thinking like car polishers though idk how you'd polish a coin.

 

Not necessarily. A soft cloth or buffer will not leave lines of used correctly.

 

It often does. That’s why I first said Koinsolv or something... it doesn’t look like it was super harshly done because the luster is still there, but it doesn’t look right either.

Just how dirty was it before you soaked it ?

 

It was dirty enough that I didn't see any reflectiveness in the fields but I noted luster around the devices. When I soaked it a literal film of stuff was floating on the surface after ~20 minutes. Second soak was 1 hour, there wasn't anything but it shined up a lot.

THIS IS NOT IT, but it looked a lot like this just with residual luster. The crap on mine was thicker, you could tell something was layered on it.

 

The best way of describing it is it seemed like the coin had a layer of dust mixed with dirt?

 

Odd coin. Hmm...

 

Right? I'm taking pictures and trying to find another software to use tonight since my current one is down. I also wish I would've taken before pictures but I didn't think it would clean up even half as much as it did.

 

A hundred years of nicotine. Stuff is sticky and most every room was filled with clouds of nicotine infused smoke not all that long ago. I painted an old house once and had to coat the walls with Kilz to cover the layer of nicotine dripping down the walls. And it will lift off the surface of a coin with a soak...... But that does not look like a natural finish to me. Certainly pretty to look at. But not at all natural.