I bought this 1931-S Lincoln Cent from a local dealer at a very reduced price , but I do not like the two-tone of the reverse and am curious if anything can be done about it. Can a coin with this type of condition even be graded ?
If you want to take a chance, a soak in olive oil might get the two tones closer to one that still looks natural.
the two tone color is odviously something being pressed on it.. on the reverse side.. ,dont clean it leave it as it is.. its still a nice xf peice..
Yeah it might, or it might not. But one thing is certain, the olive oil would then have to be removed. That means a solvent has to be used and solvents can sometimes turn copper all sorts of funky colors. Best bet is to do nothing to the coin. And if the OP doesn't like it, then do what I said before.
this will alter the coin further... he doesnt want to do that .. the safest thing to do would be to leave it alone.. i think.. as it is in xf condition its still worth a bit better than nothing..
I'm with Doug! Don't start fiddling with the coin or what you'll have is a ruined key date coin. I think it's a nice coin as it is. Leave it alone.
Do fix a thing! but one thing you may want to do is get graded????I have done that with all my Key date Lincolns.
You sometimes see that sort of toning when someone has applied heat to induce toning. I'm not saying that is the case in this example, but anything is possible. I'd get rid of it since it bothers you. It has a fingerprint on the obverse anyway. Chris
OK Thanks all for the input, I am gonna throw it on eBay and try to raise $$ towards 1 I really like to fill that hole. Chris - that finger print almost bothers me more than the 2-tone.
Well, OK. I'm an old-time coin collector who left for thirty years or so and now is back. I'm still trying to adjust to the "acetone rules, everything else drools" environment. When we old-timers did use olive oil, we removed it with distilled water. I can attest that several times a beautiful swan emerged from the ugly duckling that got a dunking.
Oh there's no doubt that olive oil can take some stuff off. But then so can a lot of other things. The problem is what harm those things can also do or what you have to do to remove all traces of the things you use after you use it. Unfortunately, water does not remove all of the olive oil. Nor does it remove most anything else.
Olive oil is insoluble in water. Any removal was an illusion. I never recommend using olive oil for many reasons, mainly it is inconsistent in composition and it contains organic acids (among other things) that can act to damage the coin surface. Save it for your salad!
Looks like reverse end roll toning. Or like a dime was on top of it for a long time. I would just leave it be.
I also thought it was toned from being at the end of a roll. I think you are doing the best thing to put it on ebay and then buy one you will be happy with. I do think it would grade though.
