My "matte finish" 1935 Mercury Dime 0

[VKurtB]

In response to 'you know whose' thread about 'you know what', I dug out my ANACS small slab 1935 MS60FSB Merc dime and threw it under my stereo microscope to check it out anew. At that magnification (pretty low through the whole range up to the max) I saw what looked to be loose dust particles among the other miscellaneous detritus that was disallowing any luster to shine through. I sent this coin to ANACS about 1994 or so, and I haven't messed with it since. I was much less experienced then with 'chemicals as part of my numismatic toolkit'. I credit (blame?) Weimar White with giving me the courage to try stuff. The dime was matte, matte, matte. No sign of any luster on it.

So yesterday afternoon, I cracked it out and put it in a glass petri dish with some distilled water and a glass lid over it. Almost immediately, some luster showed up. By this morning, there is even more. Tonight, I'm changing out the distilled water for another day or so. Then I intend to hit it with some acetone. If any ugly toning is revealed, I'll hit it with my Kodak cleaner formula (a thiourea and citric acid concoction that does great things to coins with ugly toning). It'll be in my next U.S. coin NGC submission. First I have a 'World Coin' order to assemble. It is a FSB coin after all, and getting prettier by the hour.

[VKurtB]

Oh, yeah, I did photograph it in the ANACS slab before I started this. The color balance is funky (too blue - LED lights), but the original look is preserved.