The is an important coin, as I inhereted this from my grandmother and eyed as a kid my whole life. First coin I ever submitted and came back EF-40 PCGS. The thing is the grime on the reverse and the verdigris under the "0" on the 1909 drive me totally crazy. I have gotten quite good at removing this kind of stuff with mineral oil and a rose thorn (must have sharp unbroken point-not blunt, and please practice on a lot of junk if you feel inclined to do so). I am confident that this coin would look significantly better. Any opinions. I worry about the verdigris growing. I will not scratch the coin- I am confident of this. I just don't like the angst of removing and doing all this work and resubmitting. However, I will feel proud if it comes out well. Those who have never done this will undoubtedly say NO, NO, NO. Many guys at NGC do this often and well. I have used a product "Verdigone", which removes verdigris well on AU or below coins, which I would use most likely after I got off the grime with a rose thorn.
Send it in th NCS for conservation. Let them know what you want done. You can then have them send it over to NGC for slabbing or have them send it back to you for reslabbing by PCGS. I wouldn't take a chance on trying to conserve such a coin myself, what if something happened to it accidentally?
See recent posts, If you want to get an overview and several comments addressing the ?'s you are asking see many posts on cleaning/conserving during Jan. 09. On this coin I'm not sure it would meet criteria for doing anything - it looks pretty good to me. Ben "did you guys miss me the last few days" Peters ***See guys/gals, I really don't want to clean everything***!
I wouldn't touch that coin if I were you. I would send it to NCS still in the slab asking them if they thought they could help it and with instructions not to do anything at all until you talk to them after they have seen the coin. Two reasons for this - 1 the value of the coin and 2, the more important reason - the sentimental value the coin has for you. It just aint worth the risk. And I may be wrong, but I suspect that if you used Vedigone that the coin would no longer slab.
GD- what do you think Verdigone is: it changes the color to lighter colors with bluish/orangish hues I have noticed, but it has substantially reduced verdigris in a # of coins I have used. It is a propriety chemical, so Thad who makes it won't say what's in it?.
I have no idea what is in it, just like I have no idea what is in Biox. All I know is it is a chemical that supposedly removes verdigris. I can only assume that it is some sort of acid & works in a similar nature to Nic-A-Date. And no coin ever treated with Nic-A-Date will ever be slabbed. Just like a coin that is over-dipped, they are not slabbed either. There are many different things out there that should remove verdigris. The question is - how much harm to the coin will they cause in the process ? I suppose you could even use Coke if you wanted to, but Coke will disolve a copper coin if it is left in there long enough. And people drink that every day. I strongly doubt it would be safe to drink Verdigone or Biox, so imagine what they can do to a coin. Yes, verdigris should be and needs to be removed or else it will absolutely do additional harm to your coins. Verdigris corrodes coins, and corroded coins are typically body-bagged - with the exception of early copper. Thus once the verdigris is removed and the corrosion (damage to the coin) is exposed there is a very good chance the coin will not be slabbed.
Think of any such intervention like radiation or chemotherapy. You simply can't kill the bad stuff without killing some of the good stuff. But this coin is far from being on its last legs, justifying that kind of invasive therapy. As such, I say, let it alone. But Boss, it's your coin...you da boss.
If you use biox (and this verdigone may be very similar) on an IHC, I can guarantee you it will change color, perhaps radically. Yes, it will remove the verdegris if you leave it in long enough. But the coin will look quite different, and it will not be an attractive change.
