Ever seen those crummy put-together framed type sets for office walls?

[James_OldeTowne]

I did an appraisal for a lady last weekend, and one of the items she asked me to look at is a "20th century type set", one of the pre-fabricated put-together kind in a frame suitable for hanging. According to the client, this was hanging on her husband's office wall (he was an accountant) for some 20 years before he got tired of it and stuck it in the basement. As you maybe can tell from the first two images, it was covered with dirt, grime, dust, and roach goop and other undesirable deposits from typical basement storage. I cleaned it up for the remaining images, and discovered that a few of the coins actually are UNC, and some have picked up really gorgeous toning, especially the Peace dollar.

 

One weird thing about this set. The "glass" is actually a plexiglass of some sort, and rather than being crystal clear, it has a matted surface! So it is not possible to get sharp images. The "glass" blurs the images. I haven't a clue why a company would do something like that, as the whole object would seem to be to allow the best possible viewing for people to admire the coins.

 

See what you all think.

 

James

 

[gmarguli]

When I first started to read this post, I had a bad feeling it was going to be all polished and had cost the buyer a ton of money. However, those coins look very nice - both grade and toning wise.

[Coinbuf]

There are some nice looking coins there

 

Chris

[kranky]

I saw one that a non-collector friend of mine had. Different holder but the same concept.

 

They were absolutely the most abused specimens of coinage I have ever seen. AG/G coins polished to a chrome-like sheen. They were ghastly.

[Bruceswar]

I will take that set anyday

[Hoot]

That's FANTASTIC! Far exceeds the quality of a five piece set I was given as a kid, all of which had been polished with Brasso™ and made so shiny that one could only look at them with special pinhole glasses.

 

Great to come by one of these sets that's legit.

 

Hoot

[HaydenTubbs]

That's FANTASTIC! Far exceeds the quality of a five piece set I was given as a kid, all of which had been polished with Brasso™ and made so shiny that one could only look at them with special pinhole glasses.

 

Great to come by one of these sets that's legit.

 

Hoot

 

 

That's a sweet set there James,love the Rosie. When are you going to "crack" them out?

 

-Hayden

[James_OldeTowne]

((( When are you going to "crack" them out? )))

 

Actually, I have been commissioned to disassemble the frame and replace the coins with bright, shiny new ones! No, seriously, some of the coins are not UNC, basically the Barber coins, and the IHC. I am buying the toned coins, and with the proceeds, am purchasing all new replacements, but all will be BU.

 

The accountant's son wants to put the set on his office wall, as he has inherited his father's business, and wants to keep this memento.

 

It's really a pretty cool situation!

 

James

[HaydenTubbs]

((( When are you going to "crack" them out? )))

 

Actually, I have been commissioned to disassemble the frame and replace the coins with bright, shiny new ones! No, seriously, some of the coins are not UNC, basically the Barber coins, and the IHC. I am buying the toned coins, and with the proceeds, am purchasing all new replacements, but all will be BU.

 

The accountant's son wants to put the set on his office wall, as he has inherited his father's business, and wants to keep this memento.

 

It's really a pretty cool situation!

 

James

 

Neat, is that Morgan a Gem?

[James_OldeTowne]

The morgan is an MS-64 in my opinion, because the obverse is a little flat. In fact, based on the flat strike, I'm guessing it's an "O" mint.

 

James

[James_OldeTowne]

I thought some of you might find this ironic. As mentioned previously, I was commissioned to open the set up, remove the coins, and replace them with BU examples. I agreed to offset this cost with the value of the toned coins, since my assumption was that many would be worth a strong premium. So a couple of weeks ago, I disassembled the display, and much to my great dismay, here's what I discovered:

 

 

All the coins were taped in with good old masking tape, and corroded virtually every coin.

 

[HaydenTubbs]

I thought some of you might find this ironic. As mentioned previously, I was commissioned to open the set up, remove the coins, and replace them with BU examples. I agreed to offset this cost with the value of the toned coins, since my assumption was that many would be worth a strong premium. So a couple of weeks ago, I disassembled the display, and much to my great dismay, here's what I discovered:

 

 

All the coins were taped in with good old masking tape, and corroded virtually every coin.

 

 

Dang! That sucks big time!

 

They were so pretty on the front too! What are you going to do with the set now?

 

Hayden

[cpm9ball]

James, I'll give you $25 for all of the coins so I can use them as a "What not to do" teaching tool.

 

Chris

[McKinley-migration]

people are so dumb

 

example:

[EZ_E]

I thought some of you might find this ironic. As mentioned previously, I was commissioned to open the set up, remove the coins, and replace them with BU examples. I agreed to offset this cost with the value of the toned coins, since my assumption was that many would be worth a strong premium. So a couple of weeks ago, I disassembled the display, and much to my great dismay, here's what I discovered:

 

 

All the coins were taped in with good old masking tape, and corroded virtually every coin.

 

 

That sux! I was surprised at the eye-appeal. Most sets that I've seen have been dog-ugly and, as the others mentioned, polished and in low grades.

 

Still, use some acetone for the reverse and rinse well. Preserve the obverses and you should still have some decent coins.

 

The Barbers were previously cleaned but have retoned somewhat and still have good detail.

 

This is actually a decent set.

[CarolinaCollector]

In spite of the plexi-glass, this is a fantastic item. A nice item to exhibit on an office wall.

 

All of these coins were probably BU when purchased...

[jgrinz]

I had started CREATING one from a Piece of trash unit. Replacing those of a lets say "polished" variety to real nice specimens that were either dupes for me or came in package deals. Almost done and when completed I will post it. The striking thing is when you have FULL cameos in the frame ... Catches yer numismatic eye immediately.Some of the other coins are doing what they do - like the state quarter and a couple of others are starting to TONE in the frame that nice hazy gold.

Also when I went through the "I Love Princess Diana" phase before she passed I purchased an absolutely gorgeous framed set of Dollar coins from all the "States" under the Crowns dominion at the time. These are have a real nice GOLDEN GLOW to them some almost looking gold. OF course it has a little different meaning to me after her passing and has not left my wall since. I will take a picture of that if anyone is interested in seeing it.

Mike