Opinions on this 1945-S Walking Liberty Half... Toned? Damaged?

I bought a little pile of junk silver today. In that pile was this 1945-S Walking Liberty Half Dollar that caught my eye. It looks like a low AU or high XF but it's hard to tell with all the toning going on. I showed it to a few people. Some said it was nicely toned. One person told me to dip it. One said it has "environmental damage". I kinda like it the way it is, but I don't know what to do with it if anything. I know it looks rusted, but it's not. I looked at it under a magnifier. Again that's just my opinion.

What would you guys do with it??

 

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looks like it was buried in the dirt for quite a while.

 

not from being buried.

At leas t not like any silver that i have ever dug

 

I kind of like it. Not sure of the technical grade as the obverse right field looks "grainy". If it were me, I'd put it in an airtite and keep it as is.

 

Looks like environmental damage but I like it. Probably AU if not for the damage. I don't think it was dug.

 

Put it in an AirTite just the way it is. If nothing else, it will make a great conversation piece.

Chris

 

There is a reason a friend said dip it. One, that toning is beginning to turn terminal. A buyer, (if you were thinking of selling it), would worry there is damage underneath the tone. If you keep it, make DARN sure you stop the toning. It might be fine underneath, there might be damage, but if you are not going to dip it to remove this heavy layer of tone, at least be a good custodian and keep it very dry and away from toning agents.

 

Will AirTites halt the toning process or just slow it down?

 

Airtights will help, but the environment has to be correct. If stored in a sdb, do not store paper, especially non-white paper, in the sdb. Also, near the front of the sdb put some unprotected ASE of similar. They will absorb and toning inducing agents and tone first. If these ASE's tone, they are telling you something is wrong. Fix the problem, throw those ASE's in a box, and buy new ones to "sacrifice". This helps slow down toning for all of your coins, with a side benefit of forcing you to buy silver regularly, (never a bad thing right)? I actually own 1996 ASE's ONLY because I was doing this, and changed them out that year. I think someone told me 96 was a little scarcer year, I don't know since I have never "collected" them.

 

Doug, you ever have much luck dipping to remove layers? I tried it with mixed success. A "solution" for this coin could be a dip in a diluted mixture to only remove some of the toning if the OP really wanted to try to keep it "toned". In my experience what happens, though, is the worst of both worlds, the pretty stuff goes away and the dark stuff just lightens up a bit. I had a couple of coins turn out pretty, the rest had to be redipped to white, so I abandoned the idea.

I am not positive this coin has corrosion underneath. I am more 50/50. I do think, though, with PERFECT conditions it can be stopped. Its just hard to maintain such conditions. If someone thinks its worth a premium as is I would slab it and sell it and buy myself a lighter specimen.

 

Thank you for all the help and terminology clarifications. I think for the meantime I will put it in an airtite. I got as many different suggestions here than I did in person. If anyone else has any more ideas or suggestions id love to hear them. Thanks again to all for your help on this one.

 

Before you put it into a holder, I would rinse with water, isopropyl alcohol, and then acetone , in that order and allow to air dry. I think there is a good chance that some of the color may be from material on the surface. If is is, re-evaluate, but if not, no harm done.

 

Wouldn't you want to rinse the coin in distilled water after the acetone bath?

 

I was going to suggest an acetone bath myself just to see what may fall off naturally.

 

Could be some beautiful toning gone too far, to the point of pitting/corrosion – worth melt. Once the toning is where you want it, seal it in an Air-Tite.

 

I assume you're about a general rinse; if so, no.... it's not necessary.

 

No, the acetone will evaporate off 100% taking any moisture with it, so why add water back on for nothing except bad things. Contrary to many things such as detergents, etc., but pure acetone goes completely.

 

Well I'm going to look on the bright side.... as soon as I find it.