I usually think "inside job" on these things, but I can't imagine someone went through all that trouble, knowing that they were going to get heavy...
The nickel is G-4, but has some dark junk on the reverse. Still a good buy. I think you overpaid a bit for the Columbian, but still not too bad....
Congratulations. The Walking Liberty half is a very popular coin, and for good reason -- it's a very beautiful design.
The picture is fuzzy, but the VDB looks suspect to me. Could also be an added mintmark. The metal around the mintmark looks funny.
Ooh! I haven't seen a spectrometer printout since my Quantitative Analysis days...I can't wait!
This was the first I'd heard of that variety. It sounds rather minor. I saw some pictures of it, and I'm not impressed. I don't believe NGC or...
It may have been treated with acid. I have seen this before.
I'd probably pay $6-7 for the Franklin. You can buy the whole proof set for $13-$14 if you look around. Then you've got a silver quarter and...
To be honest, it looks like an AU-50 coin. It's maybe worth $1 or $1.50...not much more. If you didn't pay more than a couple of dollars, you...
Your coin probably trades in the $30-$50 range, so I don't think it's worth spending $25-$35 to have it certified. It's a nice raw coin, with a...
I do it to a degree, but probably not to the extent you have. I collect Jefferson nickels, mostly 1938-1964, and mostly mint state. The problem...
Your 1939 DDR is very nice, and it is the FS-022 variety (not to be confused with the much-lesser-valued FS-022.5.) I just bought one myself...
I just use a 10x loupe. I don't think you want one with more than 10x magnification. Get one with as wide a field as possible. You may want to...
Hot water soak: I'd use pretty hot water for at least 30-60 minutes. You may want to dump out the old water and put in new, hot water every 10-15...
I would try, in this order: Hot water soak, acetone, and olive oil soak. The black stuff will almost certainly come off. The green stuff almost...
You are very fortunate, and I imagine so is the dog!
You might want to combine your threads.
It looks good to me. I think it's just the way the coin is. It looks natural to me.
VG-10, cleaned.
Are you positive that's not PVC damage? I could go either way.
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