Are all 'Brilliant' coins really dipped?

[MikeKing]

The more I study, the more I am beginning to believe that all those 'BRILLIANT' coins out there are really all, very DIPPED, and the only thing brilliant going on is the brilliant coupe on the unsuspecting buyer. I'm not talking about coins from the 80's and 90's, but I am talking about 1950's and earlier. I just don't buy it. In fact, I'm gaining a lot more respect for patina overlying the mint frost, and 'natural' toning (or as best as I can judge as being natural).

[BillJones]

No all BU coins have been dipped, but a lot of them have been, especially if they were minted prior to say 1940.

[mark]

Bill:

 

Even though I try to collect "blast white" coins, I have to believe that with one exception, 95% of all silver pre-1930 "blast white" coins have been dipped. That fact mildly bothers me, but hasn't changed my collecting habits. The sole exception is Morgan dollars, which I presume can come white because the government kindly stored millions of them for us.

 

But you have much more experience than me. So....do you agree with my 95% are dipped assessment or do you think I am high? Or low?

 

Mark

 

 

[gmarguli]

In my opinion practically all blast white coins from the 19th century have been dipped and many of the early 20th century that are blash white have also been dipped.

[michael]

all very good and correct thoughts

white coins with great/good lustre

thick original

undipped skins

and with exceptional eye appeal even good eye appeal

are rare and desirable and actually worth lots more than their dipped counterparts

 

nows here is a coin that is really uncommon and a 41 s to boot non dipped yet still white with a thick skin and rainbow toning

 

usually you just see dipped blast stripped white walkers

 

to be original thick skinned

and rainbow toned

and 41 s

and with a decent strike

and a solid ms 66 to boot is well

rare

 

sincerely michael

 

[ms66quarters]

some silver washington quarter's (37-D & 38-S) I own has some mint frost all in the hair,if they were dipped wouldn't that take some or all of it away? In fact the 37-D has even a slight cameo in the hair...it's a hell of a coin,one of my favorite's,bought it for 64 moneyin Jan,02 had it holdered in a NGC 66

 

I beleive it wasn't dipped,because of the frost on the hair....I could be wrong.

 

any thought's

 

Rob

[michael]

herre is another undipped white thick skinned monster cartwheel lustre great eye appeal coin

 

really rare like this as such

 

sincerely michael

[michael]

and yet another

 

sincerely michael

 

white undipped exceptional eye appeal fully original thick skinned and with great lustre

 

[michael]

and another with the qualifications as per the above

 

sincerely michael

 

ever so lighly toned but mostly white

[Oldtrader3]

Many of the 20th Century minors were storage in tightly wrapped paper bank rolls (in heated banks) which kept the inner coins in the rolls white. This is not the case though for 19th Century coins. Most were stored in collector (wooden) cabinets, paper envelopes, paper albums or bags (without climate control) which promoted toning over the long haul.

 

Dipped older coins are not my cup,of tea (at least for pre-1920 coins). I would rather have them in their natural state (even if dark, they can often be "conserved" back to richness in tone). Many small Dealers up until recently mistakenly believed that most collectors were too unsophisticated (or stupid) to buy naturally toned coins. This is changing, fortunately before all the silver toned coins were dipped.

 

These are generalizations and as such, there are exceptions to the rule. However, I have dipped modern silver coins and the tiny silver "fish scales" suspended in the dipping solution after a few dips illustrate what was is being lost by the process. I have attached a Monster (MS65) 1927-D SL Quarter (with rim color) that has never been dipped.

[Hoot]

It seems that there are a few white coins out there that have not been dipped. I have an 1881 Morgan that I bought as a kid from a museum that received one of the Treasury hoards. (It was the first coin I ever had graded - MS65). It's pretty much white, but not with the annoying dipped irradiance. I bought it in 1973 and stored it in some of the worst conditions imaginable (cardboard boxes, etc.) and it is still pretty white. Specific chemical exposures, I believe, are the key to whether coins tone, and I think that some coins just escape unscathed.

 

Hoot

[TomB]

I agree with much of what has been written here in that many coins from the 19th century that are white have previously been dipped and that most of said coins that are blasty white without visible patina have been dipped. Coins from the 20th century, however, were often stored in paper or plastic rolls as there was a roll boom in the mid-20th century and many of these coins do not have the same thick skin as is seen on their unmolested ancestors.

 

To me, an unnaturally bright, blasty Pan-Pac, or other coin, is simply an eyesore.

[fcloud-migration]

I would agree many blast white coins have been dipped, but many have not. The dipped coins seem to have a dullness that you don't find on original surface coins. You would need to have one dipped and one not to be able to tell the difference. Many what I call blast white coins have just a tinge or hint of golden or yellowing when that is stripped the coin is blue or grayish in color.

 

Tony