Hello I purchased this 1916 barber not long ago . It has a very dark tone around the edges of the coin and a lighter almost gold color on the face. I'm not sure if the coin has been cleaned is does have a few hair lines but not bad. There are spots of the coin that still show patches of luster. What I'm wondering is would this coin grade out ? I believe the coin looks AU50/53. I've seen coins in slabs with lots of dark tone receive details corroaded or environment damage. Then others don't. What do u guys thinks of the coin?
The image is a little out of focus and it would really help to have a reverse image, but my first impression is that this coin has more meat on it than an AU50/53. The surfaces might be completely original and the coin just has accumulated dirt, grime and toning on it. However, with the lack of finer focus it is tough to tell more. Stray hairlines are actually quite common on problem-free AU coinage.
Thanks tom , I will do my best to get a better pic for you . I'm trying to get a fifth coin to send in for grading since anacs has the 5 minimum. It may be a little better than AU 53. This is my first day posting here and everyone seems to always assume the worse as with the last pic of the 1892. You where the only one that gave me a little hope on that other coin. Let me try and get a better photo. Thanks again.
Ok these are the best photos I can get with the camera I have. Sorry. The only hair line I can really see is a few on the jaw area of liberty and a small patch on the neck. There not visible to the eye. It thought for me to see them under a loop.
I don't think it has been cleaned and it appears to have actual mint luster, which is more readily identifiable on the reverse. However, the layer of gunk and grime is extremely thick (and I love gunk and grime on coins, so if I am writing this then it is really, really thick) and that will negatively affect the grade. Even if this coin were MS, I would expect it might go very low MS or even AU simply because the gunk is so thick. The worst case scenario would be to receive it back with "Environmental Damage" on the holder if all that dark material around the reverse rim is viewed as a form of damage. Regardless, I would not advise trying to lighten up the color of this coin.
Thanks again , Tom The reverse of the coin does indeed have a lot of luster in the areas that isn't covered in the thick tone. However the obverse the luster is more a small patch here and there. Even if the light hair lines on the upper jaw area and necks of liberty are the sigh of an old cleaning . Do you think it would grade ? Or worth submitting for a try anyways ? Thank for all the help.
I don't think it shows signs of cleaning from the images and it also might very well be mint state, but I also know from experience that coins with that amount of grime, gunk or toning often get hammered when graded and sometimes end up with the "Environmental Damage" notation. I think it is a toss-up as to receiving a problem-free grade, but a coin like this will often be difficult to sell because most will not like the eye appeal. This is not a coin that I would send in for certification, but I don't know your motives for doing so or your final plan for the coin, which might make it worthwhile for you.
Well what I had planed was to use it as a more or less quota filler . I only have 4 coins that I'm fairly sure will grade out . So I'm in need of a 5th to be able to send them in . I really don't wanna hunt threw eBay just to receive someone else's body bag. Since I got this coin dirt cheap I was hoping to maybe get a AU grade therefore getting a 60-70 coin from a 25 dollar coin counting grading fee. You had said not to remove any of the grim . I understand cleaning is never a good thing but do u think there's anything I could do ? Would a dip or acetone help in any way ? I live in Ky out in the middle of the backwoods so I don't really have the option of a local coin dealer or anything like that to try and find another coin to send . It so tough to get a problem free coin from eBay . I have several other coin but most being 10-30 dollar coins so it really wouldnt be worth the fee to send them.
This is a tough one, not only because of the pics. I assume it has been cleaned to some degree because the dark toning is missing on the entire bust and in some areas of the fields on both sides. What matters is how abrasive this was done, so I'd suggest looking closely at these cleaner areas and see if it's full of hairlines or not. If there are only a few patches as you stated, the. I think you have a good chance of it grading clean. I can't tell from the pics. I can imagine Anacs going either way (clean grade or not). I had a world coin that was not cleaned looking at all to the naked eye but came back improperly cleaned. Check the hair above forehead to see if there's wear and you'll know if it's unc or au. From what I can see, there's slight wear there, making it a high au but the lower eye appeal might bring it down to 50 or 53. If I didn't have any other good coins to send in, it might be worth it to send this to reach 5 coins. Whatever happens, I'm sure you'll learn some things
Thanks joe, As soon as I purchased the coin I thought the same thing as you . That the coin had areas that the tarnish looked as if it had been removed. So it at some point has been cleaned. So to the naked eye you can't really see any scratches . So I got out my loop and looked the coin over and there does appear to be a couple of areas that have some hairlines. So I got out a few of my graded coin to my surprise a lot of have small patches of hairlines here and there also. One thing that gives me a little hope for this coin is it has a good bit of mint luster mainly on the reverse but spots here and there on the obverse also. Tom said not to try and remove the thick tarnish . I would rather not but I have heard of acetone and other things collectors and dealers do to possibly help a coin with this dark and thick a tone. Here is a couple photos of a coin I found on eBay it looks a lot like mine as far as a few hairlines and really dark tone. It's NGC au58 so maybe I will have a shot. Thanks you guys for your info and for anymore you may add.
