I was told by someone at my coin club that tilting a coin towards you is a good indicator if it has been dipped or not. If it has a black tint it has been dipped. If no black tint not dipped. Is this true? Also if you can give other indicators that a coin has been dipped that would be great.
That's not true. A properly dipped coin you can't tell, you can just suspect it has because it will look brand new. Now if someone does a terrible job rinsing the dip off maybe there could be some truth but have never seen a perperly dipped one that did that
I think it depends on what they are dipped in. Some chemicals will dull silver and possibly leave a slight filmy finish. Possibly seen as a light black tent by some.
Tilting a coin towards you helps you tell if it has been dipped. Tilt it away, and you can tell if it is improperly cleaned. Tilt it left or right, and you can tell if it is a counterfeit.
SAY WHAT ??? Please tell me you're not serious ! Yes, tilting a coin, or if you prefer, rolling it slowly under a light can tell you a lot of things about a coin. That is because the light reflecting from certain angles allows you to see what you cannot see from other angles. For example, to see signs of harsh cleaning you may need to the coin towards you, away from you, or to the left, or to the right, or any of the many different angles in between all of those ! ON coin A one direction may show you what you need to see and on coin B an entirely different direction may show you what you need to see. As for detecting if a coin has been dipped, if it has been dipped correctly there is only 1 way you can know that - deductive reasoning. Tilting it in any direction will not tell you anything about whether it has been dipped or not ! Now if a coin has been dipped incorrectly, or over-dipped, you may be able to detect that from any and all angles - not just one or the other. And detecting a counterfeit, the only way to detect a counterfeit is by examining the coin's diagnostics. And to do that you may have to tilt it 50 different directions to see them all, or just one. But there is no telling what the specific one is until you look at the coin.
@GDJMSP I have a 1971S Silver Proof that I just dipped. I put it in for one second total. If it is known that these coins have the blue haze (which mine did but is now completely gone) what would a TPG do? Other than no blue haze there is not from what I see signs of dipping.
Correct. Dipping a coin is and always has been perfectly acceptable, even long before the TPGs ever existed. edit - I want to clarify something bman. When it comes to dipping a coin dipping it properly, correctly, is the key element. But that depends on what specific dip you are using, if the dip is diluted or not, and with what, the coin itself, what is on the coin, how long you dip it, and if you neutralize it properly after you dip it. In other words there's whole lot of things that go into dipping a coin correctly. It is not a simple proposition. But, if it is dipped correctly, then yes the TPGs will straight grade it.
Basically, tilting/turning/rotating a coin in the light is a way to check the luster. Luster is caused by microscopic metal flow lines on the surface of the coin. Dipping a coin removes some of the flow lines and can reduce or eliminate the luster. An over dipped coin can have a dull appearance because the flow lines are gone. I’m not sure if this works for modern proof finishes, but someone more knowledgeable than me should jump in with the answer. You can also use this technique to check for worn areas on high grade coins (the flow lines contributing to luster are worn away). It takes practice to get good recognizing the differences. There are a lot more details, but that’s a good basic start
I've had coins that looked improperly dipped and this was especially visible when tilting the coin. Like a funky sort of residue that isn't visible head on but very pronounced when viewed at an angle.
