Being retired, recently widowed, and Covidly-distanced, I found my Whitman folders and re-started coin collecting after 55 years. Had previously bought a pack of uncirculated State & Park (1999-2011) Quarters from Littleton. Been through a huge piggy bank and probably 50 rolls from our bank so far. I'm surprised at variations in finish of newer coins. I have seen State & Park quarters with an almost flawless mirror finish, and I have seen the same with what I would call an almost flawless matte finish. Even same year, same design, same mint. I like both if no dings/scratches. Same for some Roosevelt Dimes. Also, some coins, usually matte, appear to be a bit bluer, what I would describe as almost like aluminum. So, concerning both issues: 1) why is this, and 2) which should I keep for my collection? Sorry, no picture ability yet.
First, welcome to the neighborhood @AZSteve ! By any chance, are the coins with a "seemingly" matte finish from years 2005-2010? If so, they are probably from the Satin Mint Sets that the US Mint began making and eventually discontinued. The satin finish was used only for the Mint Sets but not business strikes intended for general circulation. ~ Chris
I've notice this as well. While I don't have an exact answer, a guess might be more appropriate, but the mint has been using an outside contractor for their planchets. Years ago they did so in house where control would have been much more uniform. Again, simply a thought.
Regarding this - Variety of luster in recent mintages - and this - As has already been mentioned, at various times, including modern times, the mint has quite intentionally changed and or altered the finish/luster on coins. The basic finishes are matte, satin, brilliant, and mirror. Only the first 3 of those apply to business strikes but all four of them apply to Proofs. Now that much at least is pretty well understood by most. But what is less well understood is that the quality of luster can and does vary greatly on individual coins, even those all of the same date/mint. And even less well known and understood is that every coin type there is has its own individual and often even unique type of luster. Just as an example, every type of half dollar there is has its own type of luster. Walkers have one type, Frankies another type, and Kennedys yet another type - and all 3 of them are different than the other types. And it's not just them it's all other half dollars too. And the same is true all other denominations as well.
Denver mint coins tend to have the mirror finish, while Philadelphia coins tend to have the matte finish. I don’t know why, but that has been the case for the past couple decades
I forgot to mention, the bluish cast sometimes seen is usually caused by haze (the early stage of toning). And haze can be safely removed if ya know how.
Would like your opinion on HOW to remove haze. I have several and would like to learn. Thanks. Semper Fi
First of all you need to be reasonably certain that it is haze. I say that because there are some other things, (PVC residue for one), that can have a similar look at times, and for other things you need to use different methods. Learning to tell one from the other or recognize what the issue actually is requires experience. And experience is only obtained one way - by doing it over and over again. Now it would take a rather lengthy post to explain explain everything about safe and proper coin cleaning. And since I've written about it many times, (and you can search for that), I'm gonna try and keep this short. If you are not reasonably certain about "what" the issue is then you need to go through an entire process of elimination by using basically all of the different proper cleaning methods, and each one needs to be correctly. Ya start with distilled water, if it works - then obviously stop there. If it doesn't work move on to acetone, and then xylene - stopping of course if any of them work. Proper methods for those 3 are explained here - https://www.cointalk.com/threads/proper-acetone-procedure.193708/ If you are reasonably certain it's haze then don't bother with the process of elimination just go straight to using MS70. It works wonders on haze, strips it off like magic almost, and is very simple to use. All ya have to do is a quick dip in a shallow bowl with MS70 in it. And when I say quick, that's all it takes. Simply hold the coin by the edge, dip it in, quickly swish it around a few times, take it out. Then rinse in a shallow bowl of clean acetone, 2nd rinse in another clean bowl of acetone, followed by a final rinse in a shallow bowl of clean distilled water. Stand the coin on edge on a soft towel, lean it up against the backsplash of your counter top and let it dry. All there is to it. And that bit about bowls of "clean" whatever is important. You never use a bowl of anything more than once because doing so just puts everything you took off the 1st time on the coin you do it with the 2nd time. As I mentioned above, haze is nothing more than the early stages of toning. As such it "can" be on all coins, but typically it's Proof coins that are most often affected, specifically the modern Proofs. And you can define modern as post '64. If they are older than that well the haze has usually progressed beyond being haze and MS70 will have little if any effect - so don't even bother trying. On business strike coins haze has a different look than it does on Proofs, and some even find that look desirable, others may not. MS70 will work on business strikes but it's used on Proofs much more often. I'd even say most of the time only on Proofs. Lastly, if the toning has progressed beyond haze MS70 won't do much. At that point you have to resort to using coin dip, and that's a whole other world ! And it should be tried those that do not know what they are doing for it is very easy to ruin a coin. But if done properly it too is like magic and does not harm the coin ! The vast majority of all older coins, over 80% of them, have been dipped in coin dip, at least once. And that includes all of those high grade and ultra-high grade coins you see in TPG slabs. The TPGs themselves, all of them, use coin dip every single day, and always have.
