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My Understanding (Flawed?) of Cleaning a Coin by Dipping
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<p>[QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 1384266, member: 112"]The thing you have to understand is that dipping a coin, correctly, is 100% acceptable in the coin market. <u>There is nothing wrong with it !</u></p><p><u><br /></u></p><p><u></u>For some reason that is the concept that a lot of people just can't seem to grasp. There are literally millions and millions of dipped coins out there and they are in NGC and PCGS slabs. The TPGs have no problem with a coin being dipped - as long as it is done properly. Even NCS dips coins. The only time there is a problem is when the dipping is done improperly !</p><p><br /></p><p>I simple terms a coin dip is nothing more than an acid solution. And if you dip your coin in that acid correctly then the acid will wash away whatever is on the very top layer of the metal. But that is on a microscopic basis. There will be no detectable weight difference. There will be no detectable difference in the luster of a dipped coin and a freshly minted coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Luster is the entire issue when you are talking about dipping a coin. Your goal in dipping the coin is to make that luster visible again because the luster is being hidden by heavy toning. But you have to realize something, there are 2 things that can destroy the luster you are trying to make visible again. The toning itself, and the acid you are dipping the coin into. </p><p><br /></p><p>You see, only some coins are even capable of being dipped correctly. Those are the coins where the toning has not destroyed the luster yet. If the toning has destroyed the luster then the damage is already done and there is nothing you can do about it. The problem is, you don't know if the damage has been done or not. To find out you have to dip the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>If the luster has not been destroyed, then by correctly dipping the coin the acid will wash away the toning and make the luster underneath the toning visible again. </p><p><br /></p><p>But even if the luster was not destroyed by the toning, and you leave the coin in the acid solution for even 1 second too long, then the acid itself will destroy the luster that was still there underneath the toning. It's a double edged sword, you can lose either way.</p><p><br /></p><p>That's why people think that dipping is a bad thing. Dipping isn't bad, only dipping for too long is bad.</p><p><br /></p><p>And toning isn't always good, toning for too long is just as bad as dipping for too long is bad. That's because both things will destroy the luster on a coin.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>edit - </p><p><br /></p><p>As for the new PCGS system. No, it cannot detect if a coin has been dipped or not. What the PCGS coin sniffer does is detect substances that are physically on the surface of the coin. Dipping a coin properly does not leave any substances on the surface of a coin. So there is nothing to detect.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 1384266, member: 112"]The thing you have to understand is that dipping a coin, correctly, is 100% acceptable in the coin market. [U]There is nothing wrong with it ! [/U]For some reason that is the concept that a lot of people just can't seem to grasp. There are literally millions and millions of dipped coins out there and they are in NGC and PCGS slabs. The TPGs have no problem with a coin being dipped - as long as it is done properly. Even NCS dips coins. The only time there is a problem is when the dipping is done improperly ! I simple terms a coin dip is nothing more than an acid solution. And if you dip your coin in that acid correctly then the acid will wash away whatever is on the very top layer of the metal. But that is on a microscopic basis. There will be no detectable weight difference. There will be no detectable difference in the luster of a dipped coin and a freshly minted coin. Luster is the entire issue when you are talking about dipping a coin. Your goal in dipping the coin is to make that luster visible again because the luster is being hidden by heavy toning. But you have to realize something, there are 2 things that can destroy the luster you are trying to make visible again. The toning itself, and the acid you are dipping the coin into. You see, only some coins are even capable of being dipped correctly. Those are the coins where the toning has not destroyed the luster yet. If the toning has destroyed the luster then the damage is already done and there is nothing you can do about it. The problem is, you don't know if the damage has been done or not. To find out you have to dip the coin. If the luster has not been destroyed, then by correctly dipping the coin the acid will wash away the toning and make the luster underneath the toning visible again. But even if the luster was not destroyed by the toning, and you leave the coin in the acid solution for even 1 second too long, then the acid itself will destroy the luster that was still there underneath the toning. It's a double edged sword, you can lose either way. That's why people think that dipping is a bad thing. Dipping isn't bad, only dipping for too long is bad. And toning isn't always good, toning for too long is just as bad as dipping for too long is bad. That's because both things will destroy the luster on a coin. edit - As for the new PCGS system. No, it cannot detect if a coin has been dipped or not. What the PCGS coin sniffer does is detect substances that are physically on the surface of the coin. Dipping a coin properly does not leave any substances on the surface of a coin. So there is nothing to detect.[/QUOTE]
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