Proof coins and hairlines

[Nutmeg Coin]

Coin World has this article on a proof Morgan that graded 60: http://www.coinworld.com/insights/1881-morgan-dollar-cameo-reverse.html#

 

Why don't the grading services call these "improperly cleaned" when the mishandling seems around the same as with business issue dollars?

[RWB]

Consistency in inconsistency is consistently constant....

[BillJones]

Coin World has this article on a proof Morgan that graded 60: http://www.coinworld.com/insights/1881-morgan-dollar-cameo-reverse.html#

 

Why don't the grading services call these "improperly cleaned" when the mishandling seems around the same as with business issue dollars?

 

 

First, not all hairlines come from cleaning. Some of them come from the numismatic storage devices that collectors and dealers have used over the years which include envelops, flips, velvet in the bottom of cabinet trays and just plain old handing. Second if you condemned every Morgan Dollar and a lot of other 19th century Proofs to the "improperly cleaned" category, you have a small number of Proof coins left and was left would have their prices driven through the ceiling. This falls into the "be careful what you wish for" category.

 

Beside that there are worse Proof coin sins that hairlines. They include major nicks, ugly spots and dull overly oxidized surfaces.

 

Hairlines have long been a part of accepted Proof coin impairments. They lower the numerical grades, but not the collector status of the item.

 

 

[19Lyds]

The proof coin in the linked article isn't suffering from "hairlines" as much as what "appear" to be gouges or damage.

 

Of course, true hairlines have two sources.

 

1. Inadvertently touching a silver or copper proof coin

 

2. Inadvertantly touching or "wiping" a proof die.

 

Consider these two different 1968 Kennedy Proofs:

 

 

 

Clearly hairlines on the die.

 

I once had a 1964 PR58 Kennedy Half which had contact marks on the cheek which would constitute damage to the coin similar to inadvertent contact. In this case with another coin or perhaps a dirty table top.

 

 

[RWB]

Not all hairlines are created equal. Some are receding and a few are advancing; some are straight and others curl and swirl like wisps of smoke in still air.

 

Others will complete the similes.

[AHFreak]

HairlInes are not caused by scratched dies, those are raised on a coins surface... should not affect grade, but to say it doesn't, but it shouldn't. .. they do not look anything alike at all to an eye accustomed to looking at proofs

[MarkFeld]

 

...Of course, true hairlines have two sources.

 

1. Inadvertently touching a silver or copper proof coin

 

2. Inadvertantly touching or "wiping" a proof die....

 

You omitted intentionally touching - as in wiping or cleaning - of a coin as a source of hairlines.

[RWB]

Cleaning coins to make them "clean and bright" was common practice among museums of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many wonderful pieces in the National Collection have been abused in this way -- including the unique 1849 double eagle.