authenticating damaged coins 0

[Phil1955]

I  have what I think  is  a damaged rare Lincoln  cent can it be authenticated   first time on site sorry if,  I am not using it  right I will try and learn thank you,

[J P M]

Welcome. Anything is possible but without a picture of the front and back of said coin it will be hard to tell you anything about it.

[Matts9iron]

On 8/15/2022 at 4:51 PM, Phil1955 said:

I  have what I think  is  a damaged rare Lincoln  cent can it be authenticated   first time on site sorry if,  I am not using it  right I will try and learn thank you,

I've seen couch on couch collectibles  had some kinda liquid that a few drops will bring the date up on a coin that has one worn off 

[Coinbuf]

As JP said there is nothing that we can do to help you with the limited information you provided in your original post.   We are happy to try and help but if you want help you have to help us, I suggest that you review the post at the top of the newbie section.

[Mr.Bill347]

Couch collectibles is not a authoritative source 

[Phil1955]

I WILL SEND PICTURES AS SOON AS I LEARN HOW 

[Phil1955]

  my question is can they be sent in if in terrible condition , for instance i have found a 1992 close am you can read the date and see the leg of the A touching the M BUT THE GREAT ZINC rot has almost destroyed the coin 

[Oldhoopster]

On 8/15/2022 at 11:05 PM, Phil1955 said:

  my question is can they be sent in if in terrible condition , for instance i have found a 1992 close am you can read the date and see the leg of the A touching the M BUT THE GREAT ZINC rot has almost destroyed the coin 

Is it worth the $60+ to send in a coin that at best, will be returned as a details grade, or worse, as ungradable

[Coinbuf]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:05 PM, Phil1955 said:

  my question is can they be sent in if in terrible condition , for instance i have found a 1992 close am you can read the date and see the leg of the A touching the M BUT THE GREAT ZINC rot has almost destroyed the coin 

What you send to a grading company is up to you, in the scenario you suggest I would expect that as hoop wrote you will receive the coin back in a details holder at best, and having it sent back as ungradable is highly likely.   I personally would not send in a coin like the one you have described, but it's your hard earned money so how you spend it is your choice.

[Mactanboy]

Phil,

You have gotten good advice from the responding Board Members. WHY do you want the coin to be authenticated? WHAT would you accomplish by having it authenticated? As stated by others, in slightly different words, it is your money but why have a coin that is worth 1 cent authenticated at a cost of $60? Where is the benefit to you?

If your coin has green verdigris on it NGC is unlikely to encapsulate.

For me, I only submit rarer Almost Uncirculated (AU 50-58) or MS uncirculated items (MS 60 and higher). There are rare coins/medals of lower grades that would benefit from grading/authentication but not for common US coins. Likewise, I would never buy a rare coin or medal that has not been authenticated by NGC or PCGS. I never believe sales pitches from sellers/dealers. Just my two cents.

[Just Bob]

On 8/15/2022 at 9:59 PM, Phil1955 said:

I WILL SEND PICTURES AS SOON AS I LEARN HOW 

I feel for you, Brother.

Look at the area below where you type your reply. If on a phone, touch the "Add Files" tab, then find your picture on your phone and touch it, then touch "insert" or whatever you phone says.  On a computer,  click on "choose files" and follow the above directions. (You will either double-click on your picture, or click "open.") 

Edit: remember to place your camera on something to steady it, then crop your picture to expand/enlarge it and remove any distracting background.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Just Bob

[GBrad]

On 8/15/2022 at 11:05 PM, Phil1955 said:

  my question is can they be sent in if in terrible condition , for instance i have found a 1992 close am you can read the date and see the leg of the A touching the M BUT THE GREAT ZINC rot has almost destroyed the coin 

If this coin you speak of has that much rot on it, and if it is affecting the AM, how can you tell it is close?  There are numerous other diagnostics in which to validate a 1992 CAM (or any WAM as well) which can sometimes be more accurate than the AM itself.  But..... as said numerous times already, we cannot help you without pictures. 

[Conder101]

If the rot is damaging the AM but the TAT and FG are still clear it can still be identified as a Close AM.  Frankly though many of the others on here are looking down their nose at the coin, an 92 or 92 D Close AM are, in my opinion, rare enough coins that authentication would probably be a good idea even if it is a details coin.

[VKurtB]

I don’t care WHAT kind of variety it is. If it shows damage, most collectors will never want it. Kondition is king. 

[DWLange]

Sad but true. There is little to be gained by having a damaged or severely worn coin attributed.

[EagleRJO]

On 8/15/2022 at 6:00 PM, Matts9iron said:

... some kinda liquid that a few drops will bring the date up on a coin that has one worn off

Think about that claim for a bit. If a date is worn off, how in the world will a few drops of anything, including processed kryptonite remnants, reverse that wear?

Now if it's just covered up by dirt and grime it doesn't take super-secret special sauce to see the date. There are a number of threads that talk about the pros and cons of trying to do anything as there isn't a one size fits all solution other than "don't clean your coins".

Edited September 24, 2022 by EagleRJO

[Sandon]

   There are chemicals that restore worn off dates well enough to make them legible, although the area of the date is etched and darkened.  Such coins are collectible only as low value "fillers". For nickels there is--or was--a product called "Nic-A-Date" that as I recall was an iron chloride solution that was used to restore dates to many thousands of Buffalo nickels, especially pieces with mint marks.  The first 1913-D and S Type 2s and 1921-S that I bought as a teenager for $1 or so apiece were such restored date fillers.  A nitric acid solution was used to retore dates on silver coins such as pre-1925 Standing Liberty quarters.  I understand that law enforcement uses such chemicals to restore legible serial numbers to guns and other devices when criminals had planed them off.

[EagleRJO]

That seems so counter intuitive. You would think something just not readily visible was still there to reveal a worn off date or mark.

[Sandon]

   @EagleRJOLook at the old Stacks Bowers lot in the following link, a 1918/7-D Buffalo nickel with the date restored for a good example of such a coin:

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-B2EZV/19187-d-vg-8-details

(I would have called it G, not VG details.)

 

[VKurtB]

On 9/23/2022 at 11:38 PM, EagleRJO said:

Think about that claim for a bit. If a date is worn off, how in the world will a few drops of anything, including processed kryptonite remnants, reverse that wear?

Now if it's just covered up by dirt and grime it doesn't take super-secret special sauce to see the date. There are a number of threads that talk about the pros and cons of trying to do anything as there isn't a one size fits all solution other than "don't clean your coins".

Nic-a-date. Does this exactly. But I would never buy any coin that needed it. It literally eats away the less dense metal surrounding the date. They look pathetic. 

Edited September 24, 2022 by VKurtB

[EagleRJO]

On 9/24/2022 at 6:06 PM, Sandon said:

   @EagleRJOLook at the old Stacks Bowers lot in the following link, a 1918/7-D Buffalo nickel with the date restored for a good example of such a coin:

I can't see any date. They do note that you can make out the date with a loupe, but who knows what it looked like before. I saw a vid about restoring dates on a bunch of old nickels where the guy was using a microscope before and after applying Nic-a-date restorer, and there was always some indication of a date present which just wasn't very visible in order for anything to work. For the ones severely worn it did nothing. So, I am still a little skeptical about a date that is completely worn off.

On 9/24/2022 at 7:04 PM, VKurtB said:

Nic-a-date. Does this exactly.

Sound like something Billy Mays would sell you in an infomercial. And if you order within the next 15 minutes, they will include Nic-A-Rag FREE. 

Edited September 25, 2022 by EagleRJO

[Oldhoopster]

On 9/24/2022 at 11:40 AM, EagleRJO said:

That seems so counter intuitive. You would think something just not readily visible was still there to reveal a worn off date or mark.

Ferric chloride (Nic-a-date) etches the copper from the 75Cu25Ni alloy.  Nitric acid also works well. I raised dates on a lot of slick coins using concentrated HNO3 back in college.  Both work on nickels.  However, I could never get HNO3 to work on 90% SL quarters

[EagleRJO]

Sounds like you had some interesting chemistry lab sessions back in the college days. 

[VKurtB]

On 9/24/2022 at 7:34 PM, EagleRJO said:

Sounds like you had some interesting chemistry lab sessions back in the college days. 

We did ALL kinds of actual chemical stuff in chemistry class before this “woke era”. I was in AP Chemistry before it stood for “All Political”. 

[EagleRJO]

On 9/24/2022 at 9:07 PM, VKurtB said:

We did ALL kinds of actual chemical stuff in chemistry class before this “woke era”

Me too, with my favorites being anything that involved Mg or HCl. My son recently took a university level chemistry class and for all the good ones they hand out data. Too dangerous to actually do the interesting ones. Smh.

[VKurtB]

On 9/24/2022 at 9:19 PM, EagleRJO said:

Me too, with my favorites being anything that involved Mg or HCl. My son recently took a university level chemistry class and for all the good ones they hand out data. Too dangerous to actually do the interesting ones. Smh.

Fume hoods exist for a reason. You need to have some chemical fumes so the students hung over going to an 8AM Monday science course know they’re in the science building. 

[J P M]

The new generations do not have to do the things we did. They are safe from sport team rejection, bodily harm or being poisoned. We did all the guinea pig testing in the 50,60, and 70's 

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/15/2022 at 11:05 PM, Phil1955 said:

  my question is can they be sent in if in terrible condition , for instance i have found a 1992 close am you can read the date and see the leg of the A touching the M BUT THE GREAT ZINC rot has almost destroyed the coin 

Dated thread, but if your PMD is significant enouh for you to comment on, I would not feel it's worth sending in. You already know the answer, and time a bit of time, trouble and expense to confirm it, is waste of expenditure of fund and time to do do.

[Oldhoopster]

On 9/24/2022 at 8:34 PM, EagleRJO said:

Sounds like you had some interesting chemistry lab sessions back in the college days. 

I did a graduate thesis, so had pretty much free range in the chem and materials labs and with the analytical equipment (as long as you didn't blow anything up)

BTW. at 2850 F, a clad quarter will completely melt and soak into a piece refractory brick.

On 9/24/2022 at 10:27 PM, VKurtB said:

Fume hoods exist for a reason. You need to have some chemical fumes so the students hung over going to an 8AM Monday science course know they’re in the science building. 

I did a lot of work with anhydrous ammonia. You know very quickly if your system isn't completely sealed.

[EagleRJO]

On 9/25/2022 at 7:29 AM, J P M said:

The new generations do not have to do the things we did. They are safe from sport team rejection, bodily harm or being poisoned. We did all the guinea pig testing in the 50,60, and 70's 

I don't know how we survived without GFCI outlets, mandatory sealbelts, bike helmets, etc. 😜