Ive told all my "regular" stores to watch out for any "odd" looking coins for me. Theres a super cool lady at 7-11 that is always excited to see me because "she found something". Mostly she has had peso's and wheaties...nothing of premium value but it makes it fun for both of us. I went in today and she was all geeked up. Someone came in and used $15 in silver dollars. I bought all of them from her..all of them were 2001 Saqageweas except for a couple presidential and these 3 Susan B Anthonys. They look in great shape for 1979s! No errors or anything that my untrained eye seen. I just thinks its a cool coin to come across for the very part time hobbiest like myself. Im finding it fun to tell the cashiers around my house to keep a look out for odd stuff. I remember like 10 years ago when you bought stamps from the machine at the post office they would give you silver dollars back in change...I hated it back then but now I wish they still did!
I didnt look real hard at the value..I just assumed face value. Are they worth more than a buck? I think I seen on one of the sites I breezed through like $1.25 for circulated? That sound right?
Awesome! I know, i souldnt be excited about a normal valued coin but I am. This makes it more fun. I have been dying to see how one of these cleans up. I know, its some golden rule not to clean but I dont care about value. If they were like $50 each or something but they arent. I cant really make them "less" than a buck unless I try really hard lol. I bet I can get one of the presidentials to really shine up! the gold color is just screaming for a polish! They are like art with really nice detail. The mint designed a nice coin with this.
Their value is $1 either way so you have nothing to lose. This is the proper way to learn about cleaning, on something that you paid face value for and is valued at face value. Enjoy!
It’s cool to see interest in small sized dollar coins. My only comment is that none of these are silver dollars. Not a grain of silver in any of them. Still cool though!
Nothing wrong with taking face value coin and playing around for educational reasons. Congrats on the find and getting bit by the collecting bug
Check out how nice they cleaned up! The camera just doesnt catch the luster. They look extremely shiny like glass and a couple are almost mirror like. I put a couple uncleaned ones below with the cleaned ones. Its art without question. I made a table once from scrap glass when I was into making stained glass pieces. This kind of inspires me to get my hands on some, clean them up and make a table top out of them and cover it with clear glass.
So just a heads up, this is the type of cleaning that is not market acceptable to collectors. Not saying you did anything wrong, but just for educational purposes this type of cleaning destroys numismatic value (not that these coins had any).
Thanks beef! I agree that if it was worth quite a bit more, I wouldnt mess with it out of respect to the real collectors. Part of me enjoys the hunt and its fun to think I might find something with a nice premium but I know the chances are slim....real slim. I can toss them in a jar and look at them, spend them or shine them up in a ridiculous way ....then spend them lol. The other day I gave the pizza guy a tip with a handful of Kennedys. The kid was maybe 18 at most. He was so intrigued. I had cleaned them up. He said "these are cool, they have to be worth more than 50 cents each"...then I broke it to him that no, just 50 cents each but they are cool. With Paypal, credit cards, online pay etc. there is something instinctive about holding something beautiful that has some "weight" to it that represents value. Technology seems to be "stealing" that tangible value of money and coins away from the younger generation. 50 cents on a ledger balance on your BOA phone app verses holding a Kennedy half dollar in your hand....two totally different things. You respect the half dollar quite a bit more.
If I said how I did it, collectors would go nuts and flame me without realizing I only do it on coins that dont matter. Its extremely quick...no soaking or weirdness nor chemicals and it cleans all the tarnish and gunk (and value lol) right off the coin! But they look freaking great going back out to sea!
No idea, but the SBA dollars went from dull to shiny, no real way to do that other then friction/chemicals. OP - glad you are enjoying the hobby, and like I said earlier, no reason to not play around and learn with these coins. I know I started my coin journey the same way, picking interesting things out of circulation. Not trying to be a downer at all!
dremmel with metal polishing bit on lowest speed with very little pressure until it starts to shine. It extremely satisfying to do it and start seeing the shine.
Do you have a loupe? If you do, you should be able to look where the fields meet the devices on the coin, with a loupe you should see a distinct change in the fields as they meet up with the devices, goes from clearly polished to unpolished. This is where the dremmel tool could not quite get all the way into the crevices, does that make sense? Great way to get familiar with what a polished coin looks like, once you get an eye for this you will recognize it on other coins.
dont laugh and cringe...well, its ok if you do. Check this one out. Ive "burnt" a few coins trying to find the right touch. The trained eye under a scope can surely tell. Im just trying to get all the beauty back out from 20 years ago. I like the way this one turned out. Got most all of the minor scratches out and all the tarnish/debris. I find that working in a circle like pattern and running off the coin as I go seems to help. Its fun seeing how good you can make it look.
Also, gloves lol....finger oils burn right in. I can get kennedys so shiny they reflect color and images. I know some people are going to hate for me saying that. Ive used different chemicals in the lab at work and its not as fun. Physically cleaning really makes you pay attention to detail and what you are doing. Wiping it off and polishing up!
