I magically removed corrosion from a large cent.

No I believe that others may not consider ,or view it as conservation,that said I wouldn't be saying anything.....as it may be perceived in a negative manor. Especially if they knew it was body bagged by a TPG ,in the first place.

 

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I'm proud of the work done to conserve this coin, even if no one wants it or they consider it ruined. But mostly I got lucky, since the corrosion was not deep at all. So, it is what it is.

 

You did a fine job.
I remember reading one of Q.D.Bowers columns about how he would use a thorn from a rose to remove stuff from coins.

 

I am NOW convinced that you have some hillbilly cousin who works for PCGS that prints off the labels

We'll call him cousin jethro.

 

Good tip - I use a toothpick for most de-crudding work - the rose thorn would be good for tiny areas (inside closed letters & numbers) - if the coin is worth much more than melt, I'd be very careful.

 

Rose thorns are "old school" and hard to use. A round wooden toothpick sharpened to a point (that can be constantly sharpened with a razorblade) is the way to go. Besides a point, you can shape a chisel, etc.

 

Actually, the only time a toothpick will damage a coin is it will put a microscopic hairline (that can be hidden ) if a piece of grit is pushed around. The trick is to never, NEVER, work on a "dry" coin. Chemicals, including water are always used in combination with the "instrument."

 

I am not putting you down for trying to conserve a coin...what I am saying is mixed messages. A newbie joins this forum is told many time don't clean coins. Yet a senior member does...the newbie is clueless as to what the process is about.
Point two You'r a dealer and again " I totally get it" what you did ,but again others may not!
Having been in business for many years , I can tell you many times I wanted to speak the truth or my mind about a certain pratice ,but didn't as it may of been again mixed messages. And in business,mixed messages can be very costly.
And here's a perfect example.....two talking one sez hey you know Paddy well I heard he cleans or doctors coins......at that point the seed is planted.
I told my nephew who was spending a lot for advertising his business....word of mouth will make you or break you...!
And then no matter what you spend it won't matter.

 

Magical C-B-D! Good for you!!

 

Paddy,

I commend you for your morals, and the dignified way you have expressed your feelings about cleaning and alterations. BUT...

The simple reason folks have been told not to clean their coins is so they don't ruin them. It is that simple.

Fortunately and unfortunately, coins have been cleaned (PROPERLY and mostly IMPROPERLY) long before any of us or our parents were born and they will be cleaned long after we are dead. In fact, just about every coin has been "cleaned" in some way at some time. So, I'll suggest you don't let any of that bother you as there is nothing you or I can do about it EXCEPT keep telling folks not to clean their coins.

I wrote somewhere that I have been cleaning all sorts of things as long as I can remember. Decades ago, I probably ruined a coin or two. Now, I'm addicted to cleaning coins! I cannot stand to see anything on one that can easily be fixed to the benefit of the coin and our customers. Sometimes I'll spend five minutes on a coin before sending it to the next guy. Not a very profitable thing for the company but the submitter loves us! When I worked at ANACS in Washington, we even added a sentence on the submission form that we had permission to clean a coin if we needed to. After becoming a lot more knowledgeable - enough to be the principal founder of NCS, I still had a few coins "blow-up" on me. Comes with the territory.

Here is the thing, out in the real world, the dealers who learned how to WORK ON COINS as C-B-D has done are to be admired as that little edge generally makes them more successful. Additionally, the majority of dealers who say they don't WORK ON COINS in some way to improve the eye appeal or conserve them are bold face . Trust me, when I write that you must be the exception.

 

Yeah...but...it all depends on how much metal is changed from one thing to a completely different thing. Consider a re-chargeable battery. It discharges because one thing changes to another thing causing electrons to move. Now to charge it, we reverse the process and make everything the way it was...and this works for awhile, until the change is too much to reverse. This is what you have to realize...is it too far gone to reclaim.

 

That's a great analogy and one I had never thought of. And wine, like coins has to be stored properly while aging, and even then you still get a bad bottle sometimes.

 

Happened again, only all I did this time was acetone it. PCGS had given this one a code 97 for environmental damage. I didn't see any pitting, so I cracked it and it graded VF25. I'm into it a total of $130 now. Nice looking coin IMO. Below are the before pictures followed by trueviews. Pop 2, 5 finer.

 

The coin is Environmentally Damaged. That is what the raised, black, crust of corrosion is on the surface. They got it right the first time; however, the coin is attractive and was probably worth the straight grade the second time around. The acetone probably gave the surface a "glossy" pop that raised its eye appeal.

 

Not sure why you always have to mention $$$ we get it, you made some money ;-)