| by James Halperin
There I was, standing at another dealer's table, praying the
man ahead of me wouldn't buy the coin he was looking at, so that I
could. The coin in question was a bargain-priced 1796/5 small
eagle $5 that I quickly re-wholesaled for about 30% over cost. The
other guy passed because the coin had been gently cleaned. (Praise
the Lord!)
Like many anecdotes, this one has a moral, which is that
successful coin evaluators must create a "degree scale"
for any imperfection or defect. Severity of cleaning, for example,
can range from nearly undetectable to so harsh as to eliminate
most of a coin's market.
First consider what can be reasonably expected. To illustrate,
most Bust Dollars have been cleaned and I would imagine that in
the case of many early coins, those who assemble most of the price
guides assume that some cleaning may have occurred. So if the
cleaning happened long ago and the surfaces have re-toned
attractively, then the cleaning may be overlooked by most
collectors. (Those who only buy examples with absolutely original
surfaces should expect either to pay a substantial premium or to
wait a long time between purchases.)
By contrast, it would strike me as foolish to purchase a modern
silver commemorative that was even slightly cleaned unless the
discount were substantial, since pristine specimens are readily
available.
My point is that when assembling any coin collection, an
intelligent collector will attempt to strike a balance between
condition, availability and price. Even if cost isn't a
consideration, perfection is seldom obtainable. What's far more
important than deciding whether you're willing to accept a cleaned
coin, is knowing whether or not you did. Over the coming weeks I
will suggest methods that will help any collector, from beginner
to expert, improve his or her skills at recognizing the various
components of coin valuation. Including cleaning.
Read more about cleaning
your coins...
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