1876 S Seated Half

Alchemy · Dec 26, 2015

I'm rather put off here, I received as a christmas present an 1876-S Seated Half. It's in absolutely great shape, except for one thing. When I looked at it I noticed it had been cleaned. Now, I'm not put off on getting a cleaned coin, but the story that came with it.

My dad's eyesight is going, and really, he doesn't know much about coin collecting anyhow, but he wouldn't have seen the tooling on the coin, but the person who sold it to him was obviously doing the "Oh, I can easily get this for it cause its X or Y grade. But I'll come down to..." and this made me super angry. I mean, I love the coin, even cleaned, and I know I won't have my dad forever, so I'll never get rid of it. But it just kills me that people are so out for money that they misrepresent the things being sold, and this goes for ANYTHING, not just coins.

But this brings me to my question as it got me thinking on how things are valued, the coin in question is in beautiful shape, Full Liberty, little wear on the lady and the eagle, sharp detail on the talons and scrolls, the only thing they could have been cleaning is toning and left buffing marks. So how much does cleaning affect the value of a coin? Especially a high grade? (Like I said, I'll never get rid of this coin simply for its sentimental value) But say I have two coins, same coin both MS+ but one is cleaned, what would the difference in value be?

Sorry if this isn't the proper forum, I couldn't decide which would be more appropriate, feel free to move it if need be. Also, hope you all had good holidays!

joee5 · Dec 26, 2015

Pics?

Alchemy · Dec 28, 2015

Hey, sorry, I'll post some pics, but before you pick apart the coin, realize that it's a specimen and I'm not worried about the value of this specific coin as it's the sentimental value and the happiness that it brought my dad in giving it to me that I care about. My main question was for coins that I might come across in the future.

*Edit* I hope the pics are good. You should be able to see the buffing scratches on the field.

amc rulz · Dec 31, 2015

That is a nice coin.

Personally, as a collector, cleaning does not bother me like it does some collectors. Early on, I bought coins on Ebay that I know now I over paid. I don't worry about it, a coin is only worth what someone will pay. I don't plan on ever selling so I don't worry.

Alchemy · Dec 31, 2015

Thank you for the complement. Like I said, it has its issues, but I love it a lot and would never sell it. I just know a lot of people are super hard on cleaning, and if I were to say end up with a coin that is super great shape but have slight cleaning, it pretty much comes down to what a person would pay pretty much. I just don't understand how cleaning would drop a MS65 to say XF with minor buff marks.

Sundragon · Mar 21, 2016

Let it go,, cherish the gift from your Dad. That is an awesome seated.

The anal retentive coin cleaning/not cleaning Nazis and the scammers will always be out there.

Enjoy a most beautiful, special and thoughtful gift!

Crackerjack · Mar 21, 2016

You just never know, it all depends on the buyer. Some folks like shiny coins, and they'll buy a nicely toned coin, take it home, break it out and dip it! Now, that drives me nuts, but I worked in a coin shop and learned to like naturally toned coins. Shiny coins that should be naturally toned look unnatural to me, and it bothers me. Other folks can't stand a toned coin, it has to be shiny. I cringe when I read about people on forums cleaning coins and relics when they don't know how to do it properly without damaging the natural patina. Some folks think that because they "own" the coin, that it is theirs to do with as they please. I look at it as I am a steward of rare coins and relics, as I didn't bring anything into this world, and it is sure that I can't take anything out of it--someone will inherit my possessions, and pass them on to others, so I am simply a temporary steward, and it is my responsibility to preserve certain things in good condition for the people of the future. My motto, like that of physicians, is first, "do no harm". If I don't know how to clean a coin or relic properly, I try to find out how, and just give it a very rudimentary cleaning, and leave it with the as-found finish until I can get it treated properly.

Sundragon · Mar 21, 2016

If it ain't broke don't fix it~@!
I learned this recently with a large cent.
Even with a sound knowledge of chemistry and metallurgy you just won't know the outcome of a particular procedure which in the case of my Large, I ended up gaining a bit of detail. (date). And in doing so that detail was soon lost forever.
If I had twenty of these to play with, I could eventually figure out what process to use to achieve the proper degree of patina removal resulting in revealing the most detail and maintaining that detail. With patina once it's gone it's gone!

DougF · Apr 12, 2016

Just for the record, when I got into coin collecting around 1962, I always bought the monthly magazines, Coinage and Coin World. In those days, cleaning a coin was not taboo, I remember reading an article about using baking soda to remove dark tarnish from silver coins. The article did say to use drugstore sodium bicarbonate, not the "arm and hammer" variety.

1876 S Seated Half

Alchemy

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joee5

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Alchemy

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amc rulz

Alchemy

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Sundragon

Senior Member

Crackerjack

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Sundragon

Senior Member

DougF

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