1901s barber dime

TDB_digs

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Joined
Jun 16, 2018
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Location
Canada
I found this beauty key date barber dime at a beach town in Canada. There was a big hotel by the lake in the early 1900s, so I guess we hosted some Americans back in the day. Found it in a treed park area, NOTHING else there. I think the place has been hit hard. Got lucky with this one, really faint signal!

I know very little about grading coins. I was hoping for some help on determining the condition and value of it. There is some staining, but the detail is pretty good. You can read most of "liberty" on the head and I'd say there is very little wear.

Should the staining be cleaned? I'm afraid to touch it, so I've only cleaned it with water.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

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Cleaning it wont ever help numismatic value, awesome you got a key date along with being in pretty good shape. I dug my 1st barber dime, it was a slick but still a very exciting find. Congrats on the key date!
 
My opinion is if you intend on selling it, don't clean it. Let the buyer do that if they want to. If I found it and was going to keep it, I would clean it very gently with baking soda, cleaning only enough to take the tarnish off the high points. I have done that to similar silver coins and if not done too aggressively, they look much better.
 
Thanks everyone!

Could anybody who's proficient in grading coins give an idea of what this would be? Fine?
I won't clean it, I was mostly wondering if the staining effects the grade.

Here are some better images.
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It is a nice coin, but if sent to one of the bigger professional grading services, most likely would be returned ungraded. Many nice clean dug silver coins come back with detailed grades including “environmental damage.”
 
My opinion is if you intend on selling it, don't clean it. Let the buyer do that if they want to. If I found it and was going to keep it, I would clean it very gently with baking soda, cleaning only enough to take the tarnish off the high points. I have done that to similar silver coins and if not done too aggressively, they look much better.
I never use baking soda to clean a silver coin with any numismatic value, as it’s just too abrasive. Common coins, scrub away!
 
I never use baking soda to clean a silver coin with any numismatic value, as it’s just too abrasive. Common coins, scrub away!

I don't use baking soda as is - I make a solution of baking soda in water, wet the coin with it and rub lightly with a clean thumb.
 
I don't use baking soda as is - I make a solution of baking soda in water, wet the coin with it and rub lightly with a clean thumb.

This still scratches the surface of the coin. Badly. I do it to most of my dug silver coins. Makes them look great and I don't mind the coin collecting purists shaking their heads.
 
Thanks again for all this!
I've cleaned a few 60s silver with baking soda and didn't really like the result. I think I prefer the character of the patina.

I'm probably never going to sell this one anyway, it's my first decent silver. For now it's in a protective sleeve and it's the coin I pick up and admire most. I definitely get more pleasure out of the find than the maybe $150 bucks it's worth!
 
This still scratches the surface of the coin. Badly. I do it to most of my dug silver coins. Makes them look great and I don't mind the coin collecting purists shaking their heads.
To scratch silver, you need something harder than silver. How is a *solution* of sodium bicarb or human skin (clean) going to scratch silver? A paste of sodium bicarb is different, there are still some undissolved particles. The other possibility is that the coin was already scratched and the cleaning just uncovered the scratches.
 
To scratch silver, you need something harder than silver. How is a *solution* of sodium bicarb or human skin (clean) going to scratch silver?

The grim you are cleaning off will contain carbon base substance that you are rubbing across the surface with your finger and cleaner.

If you don't get paid to clean coins of value, you are no expert and clearly don't understand the irreversible damage to limited items. Don't mess with expensive coins!
 
As is, maybe 150 bucks.....cleaned probably closer to 70 bucks just as a totally wild guess..

Dont think that much. Problem is, it has environmental damage including obverse scratches. It would probably grade @ fine. I would say you'd do good to get @ $65 at most. Just my opinion though.
 
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