Some time ago I picked up a 1944 Walking Half Dollar on ebay. The pictures and description said MS63. In hand it was a different story. The coin had been improperly cleaned and the surface was a mess. The details were there for MS and it has nice luster on the obverse but it doesn't change the fact the coin is damaged. These are the before pictures: While at the WFoM I dropped it off with NCS to see if they could work some magic. The coin came back to me today. Cost of conservation was $20. It really was an experiment to see what they could do. Every situation/coin is different so please do not imply anything from the results. As it turns out with this coin magic may be just what is needed to remove the spotting. Is it better, you be the judge. Is the surface stable now, time will tell. Would I do it again if I was unfortunate enough to find myself in a similar situation? Probably Not, These are the after pictures: That said, I may see 100 silver dollars with some form of glue on the reverse soon. The owner says they go back earlier than 1878. There may be some candidates for conservation if I end up with the group. We will see what happens. Hope the thread is educational and look forward to your comments. Best Regards ~ Darryl
It might be the lighting, but the first two "before" pictures look better than the after pictures. What is the purpose of preserving a coin, and what does it entail?
I'm kind of confused Darryl - like G-man I'm thinking the first 2 pics you posted look far better than any of the others. In the way the coin looks in the pics of course. #4 of your "before" pics looks like a "before" pic. But the others, of that group, look like "after" pics to me. Did you get your pics mixed up or what ?
Were the first two pictures the eBay pics? Actually the coin looks pretty nice in those two (as opposed to the others). Just goes to show you how lighting can effect the appearance of a problem coin.
It's all about the lighting. The pics are in the correct order. The after pics were intentionally taken to highlight the issues. In a different light the coin would look more like the 1st pictures.
Have to ask if by chance the spotting was by chance caused by PVC etching of the coin and the PVC was removed by the first cleaning leaving the damage that no one can fix? Can not see the surface of the spots close enough in the images to know for sure.
I suspect that they could have continued the treatment until the corrosion was removed completely, but also much or all of the luster. They showed the "conservation" mentality and restraint we tend to preach.IMO Jim
That was exactly my thought Jim! To take all of the damage off the coin would have cost more than they were willing to commit to. Part of what is still nice about the coin is the luster that remains. How many coins have we seen that have no luster left? Hopefully they stabilized the surface so that it does not get worse. It may even look a little worse than it did prior to the conservation (the spotting is a little more apparent) but hopefully it will not get worse. Still a damaged coin because someone did not know what they were doing and risked a MS coin to try and alter the surface. I could produce photos of it that still look like the first couple, but the coin is what it is. The reason for the thread is to think about what you would hope to fix prior to sending to NCS. It is like the "how far is bad toning threads." Once you get to a certain point, the damage is done and cannot be fixed even by the experts. Also photos even without software manipulation can hide significant damage. Understand the risk! I can take pictures of this coin that would hide most of the issues! Be awear and learn from what is out there.
Doug, I would rather learn a very inexpensive lesson on an inexpensive coin. In the future if I come across an expensive coin with similar issues I will not kid myself into believing maybe NCS can make it better. How many people fall into that trap due to bad judgement or lack of experience? We always preach do not clean your coins. Here is another example of what can happen and that even the most skilled people cannot undo the damage. I didn't figure the coin would come back looking good but I do not see enough information here on CT about what can be done by a group like NCS. I thought it would be an interesting experience to share with the site.
Darryl I figured that you sent that coin in as an experiment just based on your title for the thread. I didn't mean to imply anything else.
Didn't take it as a negative comment, was just trying to clarify what my intent was and that others might find the results insightful. I just feel there is not enough information about what NCS does and what the limits are. It would be an interesting read to hear of and see other examples of conservation work done by NCS regardless of the results. Unfortunately the thread isn't really developing that way. Maybe I am more curious than others.?.
