More Newfoundland RE-punched fun. 1876-H 1c

[nemo656]

This coin has a bit of a sad story. I found this coin in a small lot of world coins I purchased on Ebay. The coin was a dark brown, and had what looked like caked on dirt. (I kick myself for not taking before pictures) A simple warm water rinse did nothing to the crud. I dipped the coin in Acetone for about 30 seconds, and some of the gunk came loose, but another odd reaction was noted. The color of the coin appeared to change. I thought this odd and decided to soak the coin for a bit longer. Most of the dirt came off but so did the brown color. It appears to me that someone may have attempted to use that artificial toning goo on this coin after a cleaning and possible just either soaked it in it or left it on to long. Anyway I ended up soaking the coin for over an hour and used a soft tooth brush to remove most of the caked on goo. What you see here is the results.

 

After the cleaning I was able to see some VERY interesting aspects of this coin. It has a few wicked die cracks, it has various re-punched letters, the "E" in ONE is re-punched, and the "NEW" of Newfoundland The "N" the "E" and the "W" all have been re-punched and show dramatically. A truly interesting coin, take a look at my attempt to picture it to share with the group.

 

Jim

[HiHoAudio]

Interesting coin and the photos are terrific.

[nemo656]

I just went back and looked at the pictures I posted and if you want an idea of what was on the coin before I operated on it, look at the close up photo of the NEW in Newfoundland and look near the top of the photo above the leaf there. You can see some of the gunk that I missed is still attached. Now just imagine the entire coin with that dark crusty stuff on it....

[nunfa0]

After looking at your wonderful coin, I had to get mine out of the safe and have a close look. I found the same repunched E in NEW but the rest are too worn to tell.

Mine doesn't have the cool die cracks though.

[nemo656]

I happen to visit my Dad over last weekend, and brought the coin pictured with me to show him. He's 85 years old and has been collecting coins most of his life. He suggested that maybe the coin was varnished or lacquered in some way. He told me that many years ago it was common practice to apply all kinds of wacky stuff to copper in an attempt to preserve them. After considering this and looking at the tiny specks that still remain on the coin I think he may be correct. That would explain why much of the goo came off with the Acetone bath. I have also encountered some old copper that has been waxed so I guess anything is possible. Anyone ever come across a Varnished or Lacquered coin? This was a new one on me….

 

And on a side note, my Dad sort of sarcastically asked the question “Well you’ve rescued that coin from oblivion, but did you CLEAN the coin or CONSERVE it.”

 

We joked about that age old discussion only because he got back a few coins he submitted to NGC that had been in 2x2 flips for 40 or 50 something years, and two of the four came back as CLEANED which is highly improbable since he put them into flips right out of bank rolls 40 or 50 years ago.

 

Have a great day

Jim

 

[HiHoAudio]

Anyone ever come across a Varnished or Lacquered coin?

 

I sent this to NGC and it came back in a body bad as "lacquered"....

 

 

 

[nemo656]

Did you ever consider the NCS service for that wonderful coin?

 

I wonder if they would take the six to eight hours of futzing with the coin to get it in presentable shape that I took with that one cent that I cleaned UUUHHEEEM I mean conserved..... I'm surprised they did not at least give it a details grade.

 

I don’t think I will ever understand NGC's thought process.