Commems In Hand Now - Your Thoughts Please

[texasrichard]

Have received the commems from the other day. Here's my pictures with no edits other than cropping. Would love to get your comments, good or bad. Thanks.

 

[Dwaine]

They look great to me.

[BillJones]

Don't want to rain your parade, but it's odd to see three completely unrelated old commemorative half dollars with the same type of toning. Without the coins in hand I can’t say they have been stripped an AT’d. Photos just don’t provide enough information to determine that. But the coins seem to have an odd, very bright spot in the centers that don’t look right to me. The Ms. Liberty on the Texas, Lee and Jackson on the Stone Mountain and the upper branches of the Charter Oak on the Connecticut look like the result of a cleaning.

 

Sorry to not be fan of these coins, but those areas concern me.

[mommam17]

I would of bought NGC or PCGS certified commems. I would not gamble my money on these coins. They were nearly the price of certified coins. Sorry, but I think you made a mistake. Are you going to try to get them certified?

[Amanda]

How is the lustre on the coins? It is hard to tell from the photos.

 

-Amanda

[leeg]

I agree with Bill Jones on this group. I'd return all of them. Look harshly cleaned in some way to me. Sorry.

[texasrichard]

Here's my take:

 

Photos are that....... just photos. With the coins laid out here in front of me as I type; they are somewhere between the sellers pics and mine. I don't know why. It does reinforce the notion of buying coins "in-hand".

 

I have no doubt that the seller juiced his pics to put the coins in a better light or at least to show them as he/she thought they appeared.

 

The toning....... I am just not sure and couldn't say either way even with them in hand. The most suspicious thing to me is the "color breaks" where some darker toning is adjacent to white without the expected gradual transition. What appeared as textile type toning is obviously fingerprints.

 

The coins do not have hairlines and are remarkebly "mark free". The fact is these are as mark free of commems as I've ever seen in hand. There is good to excellent luster. If someone could get away with a quick dip without impairing the luster I would bet that these would be beauts. I've never dipped anything so I don't know if that would actually work or not, just a thought. That said however, I was not looking for "white" coins.

 

In the end, I have contacted the seller to see if they would honor their 5 day unconditional money back guarantee and I plan on sending all 3 coins back. We'll see if they make good with their guarantee.

 

I hate to feel that I am held hostage to buying toned coins that have already been slabbed by PCGS or NGC; but maybe thats just the way it is now.

 

I want to be clear that I AM NOT accusing the seller of any wrong-doing. I am just taking advantage of their return policy.

 

Thanks to all for your help.

 

Richard

[TomB]

I didn't like the coins in the seller's images, and I told you so in a PM, and I don't like the coins in your images, either. What has to really send up flags is that all three appear to have the semi-circular remnants of a stain on them, which can happen if a solvent is put on the coin and allowed to evaporate too quickly. Certain solvents are used for AT purposes and for stripping coinage. In my opinion, it would be foolhardy to keep the pieces at the levels you bid for them considering their relative lack of significant eye appeal and their enormous potential for loss.

[WoodenJefferson]

Another Commem from same seller

 

texasrichard

 

I am to assume this is the same seller because it has the same type of duplicated surfaces. I say that because all the commemoratives on this site had the same finger prints, same toning, same blast white lustor hidden under the toning.

 

I have no idea the reasoning behind the finger prints all over the coins surfaces, this really puzzles me.

 

Some of the toning breaks are not right...you will hardly ever see distinct lines of tone....hmmmm these coins are very disturbing.

 

It is your decision...but I would take the advice of guys like TomB, LeeG and get these back into the hands of the seller.

[BillJones]

If that Bay Bridge commorative that Woodennickel cited is original, I got a bridge to Brooklin I'll sell you cheap.

[James_OldeTowne]

These coins have been blatantly artificially toned to hide cleaning hairlines. I would return them immediately!

[texasrichard]

These coins have been blatantly artificially toned to hide cleaning hairlines. I would return them immediately!

 

I have returned them. It was however, easier said than done. With good and varied lighting under 5x and 17x loupes; I could not see any hairlines and the coins were remarkably ding free. My pics don't reflect the luster the coins had.

 

The weird thing is........ Why would someone AT coins that were likely really nice to begin with? They don't bring huge premiums raw. I don't know what to think as this whole episode has me confused.

 

I do appreciate all the opinions though.

 

Thanks,

Richard

[James_OldeTowne]

Richard, I think the hairlines weren't apparent - because the artificial toning was placed there with the intent to hide them. I suspect that were the AT removed, the coins wouldn't appear nearly as "nice" as they did. I'm glad you are getting your money back.

 

A coin can have essentially it's full luster, yet still have plenty of hairlines from cleaning.

 

Another Commem from same seller

 

I think this coin is also ATed, although perhaps using a different method than the other three. It's apparent that a piece of cloth is being used to transfer the chemicals that import the artificial color, based on the textile patterns.

 

It's just too sad that folks just simply can't accept coins for what they are, and sell them as what they are, rather than trying to make them "better".

[James_OldeTowne]

I went back and looked at the rest of this seller's coins. It appears to me that many of his offerings are not problems, given variances in grading. A lot of his coins have not been ATed (several IHCs look recolored, a few other coins are AT, though). Strangely, however, it looks like his commems have a consistent affliction, so it's quite possible that he bought a collection of commems and really didn't know that they had been "fixed".

 

I wouldn't necessarily pass on this seller, as it looks like he does have some nice coins, and a viable return policy.

[Zoins]

From reading this thread, it seems that Richard still likes the coins (though I can be misreading this). Given that some people will enjoy these coins, how much do you think they are worth?