Making coin improvements...

[Danye West]

Is it acceptable to 'edit' coins and submit them? When (and I'm pretty sure there's no way to detect this stuff) they straight grade, is it unethical to sell them?

 

By edit I mean:

Using alcohol or aluminum to remove/lighten darker toning

Using sulphur to darken/increase toning

 

[AHFreak]

[Danye West]

^

Can you expand on that thought?

[leeg]

Here is a link to the PNG. It may help with your question.

 

 

PNG

 

 

 

[Conder101]

Not a problem if you don't mind getting detail grades and trying to sell your coins as problem coins.

[rrantique]

Not a problem if you don't mind getting detail grades and trying to sell your coins as problem coins.

 

This

[Danye West]

Not a problem if you don't mind getting detail grades and trying to sell your coins as problem coins.

 

I read the PNG definition, but I know of some dealers who do this. And their coins have slabs.

[19Lyds]

Not a problem if you don't mind getting detail grades and trying to sell your coins as problem coins.

The only problem would be for those new buyers that don't know the difference between "details" vs "genuine".

 

[Afterword]

If you suspect a coin has a problem, regardless of what it says on the slab, relating this suspicion to a potential buyer would be the ethical thing to do.

[Davids5104]

Not a problem if you don't mind getting detail grades and trying to sell your coins as problem coins.

The only problem would be for those new buyers that don't know the difference between "details" vs "genuine".

 

Ummm... so this is me as an example. i do not purchase coins with these comments on the coin due to lack of understanding. I have not spent anytime time trying to learn these definitions because I have avoided them, but now that I am reading this....

 

Based on context, I have always thought that VF details/XF details, etc. is that the coin has appropriate details to deserve that grade but has be altered via cleaning or polishing. Genuine is a coin that is truly what it says it is without cleaning or polishing but has been altered by unknown source. Genuine fails to produce a "grade" because it is unknown how the surfaces were altered.

 

 

[Danye West]

By edit I mean:

Using alcohol or aluminum to remove/lighten darker toning

Using sulphur to darken/increase toning

 

Don't these get into holders?

[Conder101]

Alcohol or acetone will not lighten toning unless it is a form of artificial toning. The basic aluminum foil technique or an acid dip can be used to lighten toning but it is hard to control and can either reveal hidden damage or create damage of it's own. In either of those case the coin will come back as a details coin.

 

Using sulphur to darken a coin (typically done to either hide damage or to provide colors to try and increase value to the inexperienced that can't identify the coloration as artificial.) but this type of alteration is very frequently recognized by the TPG's and will again be identified as a details coin.

 

Now yes there are some coin doctors that are good enough that they can sometimes get their altered coins past the TPG's, but they do not always succeed either. And once a coin is labeled as details it often is damaged permanently and may never get graded cleanly.

 

Is it your desire to become a professional coin doctor?

[Danye West]

Not particularly. I just have some dark coins. This was prompted by a conversation I had with a guy (who I don't think I should name) at a coin shop.

[CO Collector]

I just have some dark coins...

 

Sometimes that's VERY desirable and highly sought-after -- especially for early quarters & halves.

 

 

Cleaned ("details") coins might look nicer. But they are always less valuable to knowledgeable collectors.

 

 

 

 

[Danye West]

...But I collect toned franklins...

[RWB]

Any alteration of the natural marks on a coin is alteration and is nearly always considered deceptive.