Here is a nicely toned 1810 Capped Busty, O-102 in F-15ish condition. I think she would grade higher (obviously) if it hadn't been exposed to what appears to be unnatural wear on the left wing when compared to the rest of the coin. Thanks for taking a look Ben
And, it's cousin, an 1829 O-108A in F-12/15ish condition with an R-3 rating. Trouble is (besides the wear) there is wax on the coin Any suggestions? Ben
in the summer set it out in direct sunlight then once it is good and melted wick it off with a soft shred of cloth or paper towel? Seems logical in my mind anyway
Thanks buddy I got it off after boiling her in a suspended cheesecloth bag. The wax melted off and you can't even tell it was ever on the piece. Not real worried about it as it's not the best example in the world. Just a variety I needed. Take Care Ben
Very nice Bonedigger - You certainly like to collect those Busty Capped Halves :whistle: Thanks for sharing :smile :thumb:
Ben: Very nice, keep it up. I really enjoy seeing your Busties. Just jealous, but I wish that I had more of them.
Thanks for taking a look TreasureHunt, you know just how cheap these can be if you find them early or with errors in the eBay listing. Would you believe both of these together were less than a hundred bucks. And, after I sold more of my SportsCard collection everyone including the wife was happy Take Care Ben
Nice bust halves, Ben. I am sure you cherish them more then your sports cards collection. Few years back a local dealer bought a huge collection of these bust halves (several hundreds) which were collected by varieties. At that time I picked couple of them for my type set. I don't know much about varieties/rarity of these but this is one which is now in my type book 7070. 1839 Bust half Regards Ballabh Garg
bgarg, that's a beautiful coin. An example I don't have and suddenly like the looks of, LOL... Thanks for posting a picture. Take Care Ben
Bone, Draw a pot of boiling water, and place the half in a sock, and lower the sock into the boiling water. Alternatively, if you have a hand held steam cleaner, hold the coin very securely by the edges with rubber thongs, and blast away. It will melt it right off. So many old coins are waxed it seems. Not sure why, as I don't feel they particularly improved the appearance at all.
It was done to protect ( in their minds ) the coin and keep it from toning. In days past, collectors would coat coins with wax, lacquer, fingernail polish, varnish - you name it and somebody has used it.
Doug, I believe it. BTW Big Z, I did basically what you suggested and it worked. Whatever it was it didn't appear or wasn't inorganic. I suspect bees wax or tallow. The water the coin and cheesecloth was in became cloudy, almost like skim milk.
