Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Cherd, post: 3046802, member: 24754&quot;]I, of course, see your point. But, we are not talking about brain surgery here. Aside from the minority of cases where action is taken to preserve a coin that would further degrade for some reason, we are talking about making small, metal disks more aesthetically pleasing. What we are talking about is less like dentistry, and more like mopping the floor at the dentist&#039;s office <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Excluding mechanisms that physically alter the coin material (abrasion, dissolution, oxidation/reduction, electrolysis, etc) doesn&#039;t leave you with much, basically the 4 things that GDJMSP listed in the post that I quoted above. Aside from debris or foreign substance removal, any other alteration that a &quot;professional&quot; could impart on a coin would be chemical in nature. It would be silly to pay someone to dip your coins in xylene and distilled water. So what exactly is being paid for?</p><p><br /></p><p>There are only a handful of reaction types in which coin-metals or their oxidized forms participate. There are professionals in this field &quot;chemists&quot;, but this information is readily available online or in textbooks for those that are willing to learn, and experimentation is useful for determining what does and doesn&#039;t work depending on circumstance.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m certainly not advocating that people utilize these practices to pretty up their coins. When people pop in and ask about cleaning, the most sound advice is certainly &quot;Don&#039;t&quot;. I&#039;m just simply saying that we should evaluate what &quot;professionals&quot; do in the same light as everyone else. This either requires being more critical of &quot;professionals&quot; methods, or less critical of individuals that apply the same techniques, to the same extent, on their own coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s theoretically possible for a person to obtain equipment and self-educate to the point that they could successfully perform brain surgery in their basement. Aside from the legalities, if the end result is the same, then why does it matter if it takes place in a basement or a hospital?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in