Toned Mercs???

[Bruceswar]

Here is a set I picked up the other day.... What do you think.... 10 mercs for $8.00

 

Take a look... Enjoy....

 

 

The backs are mainly white.... Looks like the coins have been cleaned the retoned.... What do you think?

[kryptonitecomics]

AT.........I feel that in my gut because most if not all look well circulated and I have never seen that type of toning on a circulated Merc. Additionally a few of the coins look cleaned and retoned.

 

I don't think $8.00 is bad if you like them, but I just can't see even an album toning those circulated examples all in the same fashion.

[Bruceswar]

I guess I should have added these are from one of those Frames with coins.... This one is "The Pony Express"... The holder they are in is some sorta cardboard and had been in the shop for years.. so the owner said..... I think all the coins were cleaned at one point....but I do think it is all NT....

[kryptonitecomics]

If they were cleaned and then placed in a specific type of cardboard holder as a set for a long period of time then.............maybe, but I am still not totally convinced. A few of them look more shady then others, but the way the peripheral toning blends and expands out from the rim does look NT to me.

 

It really doesn't matter one one or the other since they are circulated. I am sure they look nice together with the matching toning and not every coin has to be an MS67 monster toner to be appreciated.

[CarlWohlforth]

I pulled worn Mercs out of circulation when I was a child. I dipped them so they would be nice and shiny and put them in a Whitman folder. (give me a break I was only about 8 and that was 40 years ago) Earlier this year I took a look at them and many looked like the coins posted here. Some had more wild color. Perhaps something similar happened to these coins?

[Bruceswar]

yeah.. I am thinking the company who made all these framed coin deals.... prolly thought it would be cool to shine them up for the frames... but then they toned over...

[Hoot]

yeah.. I am thinking the company who made all these framed coin deals.... prolly thought it would be cool to shine them up for the frames... but then they toned over...

 

Hey, when I was a kid I would clean my Mercs with a pencil eraser! When I pulled them from my Whitman album years later, they all looked like yours!

 

I do that now with every buffalo nickel I have graded.

 

Hoot

[TomB]

The coins have absolutely been polished. This is very common on those framed sets because the only people who buy those sets directly from the manufacturer are non-collectors and this market of buyers wants to see flashy pieces. So, when they are polished, they look outstanding to the group of people that they are marketed toward. Of course, over time they retone because they are not rinsed well and because of the paper in the frames. I would pay bullion value for them, which is approximately 50-60 cents each.

[wingedliberty-migration]

I would recommend that you consider higher grades and place a greater emphasis on fewer coins, but better in quality. I think you will enjoy it better that way, but if you are happy now, thats whats its all about.

[Bruceswar]

I usally don't go for lower grade coins... but the toning was nice... so I took the bait...

[kryptonitecomics]

I don't think you got taken for $8.00.....it's not like you could have taken $8.00 and invested that in a nice high grade coin....maybe a BU common date Merc dime, but not much else.

[James_OldeTowne]

I've bought albums of Merc's, as well as Buffalos, Washingtons, etc., where the coins had been abrasively cleaned before being put in the album. They tone back exactly like the ones you showed us.

 

I think that for the price, you did well though.

 

James