There is a craze right now for "Road Worn" guitars. These are brand new guitars that are artificially aged to look like they are beaten up and have not been taken care of. They have dents, dings, places where it looks like the paint has been worn off, dirty looking chrome, etc. I know, I don't get it either. Could this fad cross over into coin collecting? The mint could artifically age them until they look like they've been in circulation for 100 years. I certainly wouldn't be interested in them (although I do love real circulated coins) but some collectors might like them. How would they do it? They could put them in a cylinder and crash a bunch of coins together, or maybe dip them in some sort of chemical to give them an aged look. This would be silly but I never thought the "Road Worn" guitars would be such high sellers. The "Road Worn" guitars are more expensive than the regular mint condition guitars in many cases. Could you see the mint doing something like this? Here's a picture of a Road Worn Fender Telecaster in Candy Apple Red. I have the exact same guitar, but it's not a Road Worn. It's a Fender Standard Telecaster and it has metallic Candy Apple Red paint with a white pickguard and maple fretboard, just like this one, but it's a whole lot prettier.
Other than the Chinese counterfeiters, I can't see a reason anyone would ever want to do this to a coin. I play guitar and watched the relic fad take off. I do not understand the attraction, but some people will play big bucks for the relic'd look.
