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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Paddy54, post: 3077501, member: 19250&quot;]I picked this up also on Sunday, TG it didn&#039;t cost much! However I knew it was a good example of what not to do or try to do to a coin.</p><p>Now take a look this 1871 Half Dime a Valentine #5</p><p>Obv. Tall low date ,both 1&#039;s close to edge. Defective D in &quot;United&quot;</p><p>Rev. both ribbons ends touch wreath.</p><p>As you&#039;ll notice if you look closely first it is a very nice strike....in hand it almost looks proof like plenty of details.&nbsp; The Valentine #1, for this year was struck from proof dies.</p><p>960 proofs were struck in 1871 and 906,750 MS were struck....so under a million coins minted.</p><p>Making this year not a key but again a lower mintage year.</p><p>Now my take on this coin was it was album kept, and toned completely. Who ever owned it decided that the toning was unattractive and cleaned it! You can see the toning up above states a lite blue color as well in hand underlying next to most devices. </p><p>The coin so small in hand looks unc/or proof like, as it has been cleaned or whizzed on its obv.</p><p>It really hard to see until you image it or put under a 5x loop that a once beautiful coin is now been made into a cleaned mess!</p><p>Somewhat worthless except for the fact to use as a tool to train others what &quot;not to buy&quot;, or &quot;be tricked&quot; by thinking it could be a proof,or a unc. coin.....</p><p>It is a damn shame that a piece of history has been treated like this one has.....none the less could be sold to a novice collector as a unc./proof strike.</p><p>My intentions in acquiring this specimen is hopefully to educate others by post it here in hopes that newbies might read this post ,study the images and use this as a tool to make the right choice when at a show, surfing e bay, or considering making a purchase of a coin that looks like this one does.</p><p>The quote &quot; all that shines isn&#039;t gold&quot; is so true in collecting coins! Don&#039;t be fooled by bright shinny ,sharp strikes, as being a proof or unc. coin.</p><p>If you have any doubts walk away until #1 you find a knowledgeable&nbsp; trusted friend who will help you decide if the purchase is a good choice ,or #2 remember unless the mintage is extremely low ,and survival rate is low also there&#039;s more out there....to be discovered and purchased.</p><p>Making a purchase on an item like this isn&#039;t a good choice.... it&#039;s a problem coin that will haunt you in several ways... one you most likely won&#039;t recoup your investment in it [Two] your self esteem may be effected leaving a distaste for a hobby that you did really enjoy.</p><p>Again I knew what I was doing when I purchased this specimen, I didn&#039;t pay but a tad over melt.... and knew sharing this especially with newbies would be a good learning tool.</p><p>What really sad this coin &quot;WAS&quot; a very nice coin! Until someone made a bad choice....</p><p>don&#039;t let someone elses bad choice become yours!&nbsp; [ATTACH=full]774383[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]774384[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Retail value before cleaning&nbsp; would of been in the&nbsp; range of&nbsp; $60/100 + est.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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