NGC cleaning service 1 1

[Quinnd3]

Hi I metal detect and have found quite a few coins in my area I am a coin collector so I do not clean or polish my coins most still have dirt incrusted on them and I have heard NGC and PCGS both offer some sort of cleaning service where is that on the submission forms? I added my most recent find for an example on how I keep them and even in G3 this coin is $40 which is worth me submitting anyways I put it under a scope and it should get AG details environmental damage at the worst. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Quinnd3

[DWLange]

You can find out about Numismatic Conservation Services (affiliated with NGC) here:

https://www.ngccoin.com/ncs-conservation/

[MarkFeld]

I can't imagine that the coin could be worth the cost of conservation and grading.

[Quinnd3]

@MarkFeld yeah after seeing the minimum $25 fee it has I am not going to do that, I figured 5% of value then ok but the coins only a $40 coin most likely due to the damage it has in the top left 

[MarkFeld]

On 8/2/2022 at 9:02 AM, Quinnd3 said:

@MarkFeld yeah after seeing the minimum $25 fee it has I am not going to do that, I figured 5% of value then ok but the coins only a $40 coin most likely due to the damage it has in the top left 

Just the grading (without conservation) would probably be more than the value of the coin, unless you have a multiple coin economy submission. Even then, I don't think it would be merited.

[Sandon]

    You can try to remove any mud or other surface dirt from such "ground finds" by gently washing them with soap and water and thoroughly rinsing and patting the coins dry.  You could also try a bath in a neutral solvent such as acetone.  If your 1835 half cent still looks like this after trying such remedies, its surface has chemically reacted with substances in the ground, resulting in a crust of corrosion.  There is no way to restore the original surface, so the coin will always be impaired.  An appendix to the old Brown and Dunn grading guide (6th ed. 1975) entitled "If You MUST Clean Your Coins", while generally discouraging "cleaning", describes the following method that may somewhat improve the appearance of your coin:

     "For copper or bronze coins which have been buried in the earth over a long period of time or which have a heavy crust of oxidation, wrap the coin in several layers of gauze and place [it] in pure olive oil.  The olive oil should be in a glass jar and should cover the coin well.  This process will take from three to eighteen months to show any material effect, depending on the condition of the coin.  The gauze should be changed every now and then as well as the olive oil if it becomes too discolored.  A coin cleaned in this manner will have a slightly oily sheen to it.  Do not dip such a coin."

    I tried this method on a few corroded coppers years ago, and it made the surfaces more natural looking, though still rough.  (If soaking coins in olive oil seems odd, Brown and Dunn's treatment for "silver or nickel coins on which a heavy black oxidation has formed a crust" was perhaps stranger still--it involved soaking the coins for 10 minutes in Worcestershire sauce and removing the crust with a toothpick!)

 

 

[RWB]

"NGC Cleaning Service"

Do they 'do' windows?

 

[VKurtB]

On 8/2/2022 at 3:18 PM, RWB said:

"NGC Cleaning Service"

Do they 'do' windows?

 

Nope, car detailing. 

[VKurtB]

On 8/2/2022 at 2:49 PM, Sandon said:

    You can try to remove any mud or other surface dirt from such "ground finds" by gently washing them with soap and water and thoroughly rinsing and patting the coins dry.  You could also try a bath in a neutral solvent such as acetone.  If your 1835 half cent still looks like this after trying such remedies, its surface has chemically reacted with substances in the ground, resulting in a crust of corrosion.  There is no way to restore the original surface, so the coin will always be impaired.  An appendix to the old Brown and Dunn grading guide (6th ed. 1975) entitled "If You MUST Clean Your Coins", while generally discouraging "cleaning", describes the following method that may somewhat improve the appearance of your coin:

     "For copper or bronze coins which have been buried in the earth over a long period of time or which have a heavy crust of oxidation, wrap the coin in several layers of gauze and place [it] in pure olive oil.  The olive oil should be in a glass jar and should cover the coin well.  This process will take from three to eighteen months to show any material effect, depending on the condition of the coin.  The gauze should be changed every now and then as well as the olive oil if it becomes too discolored.  A coin cleaned in this manner will have a slightly oily sheen to it.  Do not dip such a coin."

    I tried this method on a few corroded coppers years ago, and it made the surfaces more natural looking, though still rough.  (If soaking coins in olive oil seems odd, Brown and Dunn's treatment for "silver or nickel coins on which a heavy black oxidation has formed a crust" was perhaps stranger still--it involved soaking the coins for 10 minutes in Worcestershire sauce and removing the crust with a toothpick!)

 

 

Any encrusted coin that I want to help out starts with a lengthy bath in distilled water. Distilled is used because it adds nothing to the existing soup of minerals and is a darned fine solvent. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by VKurtB

[Henri Charriere]

Breaking News!  This is B.S. "Beyond Sheldon" and "Beyond Salvage." Unsalvageable!  I don't even collect this series, but if you hand me a copper coin that's been underground for over a hundred years, I am not going to suggest there is a new and improved cure that will magically restore it to "AU - Details," at best. My suggestion is rinse it off, allow it to dry and either put it in a paper flip and place it in a drawer or give it a decent re-burial. Anyone suggesting anything else is being mean-spirited, flippant, and unhelpful (as it relates to the condition exhibited by this coin).

[RWB]

A nice "earthy" find, but no great value.

Step 1. Gentle washing with soap and water.

Step 2. Alcohol dip with soft brushing (camel's hair)

Step 3. Olive oil soak, the see if crud will chip off using a toothpick.

[MarkFeld]

On 8/2/2022 at 6:10 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

Breaking News!  This is B.S. "Beyond Sheldon" and "Beyond Salvage." Unsalvageable!  I don't even collect this series, but if you hand me a copper coin that's been underground for over a hundred years, I am not going to suggest there is a new and improved cure that will magically restore it to "AU - Details," at best. My suggestion is rinse it off, allow it to dry and either put it in a paper flip and place it in a drawer or give it a decent re-burial. Anyone suggesting anything else is being mean-spirited, flippant, and unhelpful (as it relates to the condition exhibited by this coin).

My guess is that he meant to write “AG”, not “AU” details. Regardless, none of this thread’s participants have suggested anything along the lines of what you mentioned. So please chill out.

[VKurtB]

On 8/2/2022 at 6:27 PM, RWB said:

A nice "earthy" find, but no great value.

Step 1. Gentle washing with soap and water.

Step 2. Alcohol dip with soft brushing (camel's hair)

Step 3. Olive oil soak, the see if crud will chip off using a toothpick.

Nice. The only thing I’d add is the lengthy distilled water bath first. The huge obverse gouge may make the whole exercise pointless. And 1835 is a more common date. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by VKurtB

[RWB]

"NGC cleaning service...." Hmmmmm.....

Maybe he's asking about the weird elephangellocicles who just want money...does he want them scrubbed into goodness? Well, I don't know.

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/2/2022 at 8:28 PM, MarkFeld said:

....So please chill out.

[I forget the S.Ct. justice involved (Anthony Lewis caught the off-hand remark) but he said, in substance...

"This is the United States Supreme Court. We do not submit to interviews, appear at press conferences or as guests on television talk shows. We issue OPINIONS."   (emphasis mine.)]

 

[Henri Charriere]

F Y I:  Among the comments made in a recent (July 20, 2022) article published by P---, entitled:  "Why Did the U.S. Mint Stop Making the Half-Cent?" by Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez, appear the following:

"...those that are problem-free with original surfaces are highly desirable.  Most trade for about $50. and up in grades of [P---] G-4 and are usually collected as components of type sets."

Irrespective of condition, locating one with a metal detector, anywhere, is quite a feat you can be rightly proud of. [I do not recall ever having seen one.]  

[Quinnd3]

On 8/2/2022 at 8:28 PM, MarkFeld said:

My guess is that he meant to write “AG”, not “AU” details. Regardless, none of this thread’s participants have suggested anything along the lines of what you mentioned. So please chill out.

thank you for catching that, it is meant to be AG this coin has tons of rim damage from being in the ground I am assuming since the 1850s or possibly during the civil war, the field is still in amazing shape though, Liberty is very legible and the olive branch is all there minus a ding probably from use. 

[Quinnd3]

On 8/2/2022 at 10:59 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

F Y I:  Among the comments made in a recent (July 20, 2022) article published by P---, entitled:  "Why Did the U.S. Mint Stop Making the Half-Cent?" by Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez, appear the following:

"...those that are problem-free with original surfaces are highly desirable.  Most trade for about $50. and up in grades of [P---] G-4 and are usually collected as components of type sets."

Irrespective of condition, locating one with a metal detector, anywhere, is quite a feat you can be rightly proud of. [I do not recall ever having seen one.]  

thank you, I am kind of in the right spot for early US coinage and pre-1776 coins it's just a matter of getting the brass out of the way as I go as my family has also hunted this spot since the 60s and they have found 100s of Indian head Cents and other denominations before I was even born.

[VKurtB]

On 8/3/2022 at 8:50 AM, Quinnd3 said:

thank you, I am kind of in the right spot for early US coinage and pre-1776 coins it's just a matter of getting the brass out of the way as I go as my family has also hunted this spot since the 60s and they have found 100s of Indian head Cents and other denominations before I was even born.

I envy you your location. I used to be in one like it. Now I’m in the southernmost point of the Tennessee River valley, or rather, about 700 feet above it. Not as much “old money” here. I wonder how much early money was buried beneath what is now the New Jersey Turnpike?

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/7/2022 at 12:36 AM, VKurtB said:

.... I wonder how much early money was buried beneath what is now the New Jersey Turnpike?

Haven't you heard? Jimmy Hoffa got first dibs, then he got greedy. Rumor has it he lies beneath the Skyway. 

[VKurtB]

On 8/7/2022 at 8:42 AM, Quintus Arrius said:

Haven't you heard? Jimmy Hoffa got first dibs, then he got greedy. Rumor has it he lies beneath the Skyway. 

The Pulaski? Aren’t we all?

[USAuPzlBxBob]

Coin might be really good for Pitching Pennies; maybe have an innate tendency for being a "leaner."

More likely:  "You try too hard, man.  You just ain't ready for me, yet."

 

[Frank]

On 8/2/2022 at 8:15 AM, Quinnd3 said:

Hi I metal detect and have found quite a few coins in my area I am a coin collector so I do not clean or polish my coins most still have dirt incrusted on them and I have heard NGC and PCGS both offer some sort of cleaning service where is that on the submission forms? I added my most recent find for an example on how I keep them and even in G3 this coin is $40 which is worth me submitting anyways I put it under a scope and it should get AG details environmental damage at the worst. 

 

 

 

FYI:

 

I have been detecting for years.

 

When you are "dirt fishing" I have found that it is best to keep a small bottle of water [eg: a medium pill bottle].

Any silver & especially copper coins should immediately go into the water.  This will help with the removal of the dirt later and will preserve the finish much better.

 

[Quinnd3]

On 8/8/2022 at 3:18 PM, Frank said:

 

 

 

FYI:

 

I have been detecting for years.

 

When you are "dirt fishing" I have found that it is best to keep a small bottle of water [eg: a medium pill bottle].

Any silver & especially copper coins should immediately go into the water.  This will help with the removal of the dirt later and will preserve the finish much better.

 

thank you, I will start doing this.

[Henri Charriere]

FWIW...

I have always felt a coin worth holding, is worth holding well, using a thumb and forefinger. What you do out in the field and in the privacy of your workshop, is your business. But showcasing a coin before the seeing eye public is an entirely different matter.  🤔 

[zadok]

On 8/10/2022 at 12:36 AM, Quintus Arrius said:

FWIW...

I have always felt a coin worth holding, is worth holding well, using a thumb and forefinger. What you do out in the field and in the privacy of your workshop, is your business. But showcasing a coin before the seeing eye public is an entirely different matter.  🤔 

...n yet some folks still drink their tea with their pinkie around the cups handle....

[Frank]

Good luck on the cleaning