Featured I thought I screwed up but got rewarded: A submission story.

Several weeks ago I bought this NGC 1827 XF45 on eBay for $245. The reason I paid that much was because I recognized it as the overdate 1827/6. Upon getting it in-hand, I noticed that it had pretty severe artificial toning. (Don't let the seller's pics fool you. It was chalky, blue toned. Not dark and grey like the pics). I was at a loss what to do since I didn't feel like joining NGC just to send it back in to have the overdate added. So I cracked it out.


Seeing it out of it's holder, the artificial toning looked even more pronounced, but I couldn't see hairlines from cleaning underneath. I really think someone just decided to try and add some color to it. So I used some heavily watered down dip and lightly touched it to the surfaces, attempting to remove the fake tone. It took a while, and I was in no hurry.

When I was finished I thought to myself, "Well, now it's going to come back as cleaned." I was disgusted...

I had an order to send to PCGS, so I threw it in fully expecting to get a "cleaned" or "questionable toning" designation, since I left on a little of the tone. I really didn't know what to do with it. Here's the result. PCGS upgraded it to an AU50.

 

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Nice pick up and clean up.

 

Your "conservation" looks pretty good to me.

Chris

 

I agree. You did a good job.

 

That is interesting...
So if I bought an early copper with AT and removed it safely and hauled it to PCGS they would grade it higher than NGC.

I think I just found a new business model to make millions in coin dealing


In all seriousness that was a fine cleanup you did. do you mind elaborating?

 

OOPS.

 

I don't think it's that easy. In this case, the OP got very lucky. There was no way to know what kind of condition the surfaces below that toning was in. It very well could have been harshly cleaned. I agree the result is very nice, but it is a risky game...even if you know what you are doing.

 

I got extremely lucky. Used very diluted dip. Probably 15 parts water to 1 part dip. I lightly applied it to the worst areas of artificial toning with a q-tip, let it sit for about 5 minutes at a time, then rinsed. Repeated the process until most of the fake toning had been removed. It took about 5 times, but slight, non-offensive remnants of the artificial tone remained.

 

Quite lovely, with nice amounts of luster remaining.

I think your story would be more effective had we actually seen "before" images you took, instead of the worthless images from the seller/auction. Then at least we could have seen this supposed hideous AT. If you have those, could you post? I think it would add to the educational value of this thread.

 

An excellent coin and story CBD, I'm surprised that PCGS didn't notice the cleaning. I guess your that good

 

I'm not surprised, the coin looks very nice. Properly conserved coins are perfectly acceptible.

 

I really like the way the 7 pops up on top of the 6. Love the die cracks all over the coin. I also like that you took a chance and made out like a bandit. Good for you.

 

Looks great you did a nice job leaving just enough color. When you were done It looked like a nicely retoned coin that was dipped years ago which they usually grade clean

 

Gorgeous coin. So how much did it affect the value?

 

Well it was in a plain 1827 XF45, not an overdate, so it was "worth" about $225 unidentified. But in an AU50 holder properly identified it became a $700 coin.

 

You've got a sharp eye. I still can't see it on the first pic but can plainly see it on the last one only because you said it was there.

 

The at muted the luster and made it look more worn then it was with the proper conservation it looks like an au -50