:P "OO" mintmark morgan... lol.

While sorting through a bunch of my collection I haven't looked at since I was a kid, I came across a Morgan dollar that was labelled as 1891-"OO" mintmark. I remember that purchase - it was at a LCS about 18 or so years ago (longer than 15, probably not quite 20 lol). It was being sold as an error coin, as if the "O" mintmark was drastically doubled. I picked it up for about 2x the value of a "regular" 1891-O morgan. It was the first error coin I ever bought.

Everyone here probably knows EXACTLY what the coin really was - I only just figured it out, when I came across it again. 1891-CC, of course

I thought, at the time, I'd overpaid, but I definitely wanted the coin, so I paid it. I feel like it cost me around $15 at the time? little more, little less. It seems I did much better than I thought, though

 

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We want pitchers!!!!

Chris

 

All right. Here she is. Not the prettiest example, but a legitimate carson city - my only one

 

I wasn't thinking cc. I was thinking either a strong omm vam like the 83o vam 4 OR a dropped letter error by how dramatic you were describing it.

Nice pickup. It's pretty rare anyone selling a coin would confuse a cc mint mark for a dramatic omm. If they know enough to call it an omm they know enough to think it might be a different mm. Usually I guess. Cool for you

 

Soak her in acetone stat. That green is probably plasticizer and I know it's probably been in there a while but it's eating away at the metal

 

Not sure how they made the mistake. either - it was at a coin shop, after all. Long enough ago that it's not really relevant anymore, just a good anecdote at this point lol. At the time, I was either 9 or 10 years old - I didn't know what a CC was, either I was just happy to get an "error" coin.

 

Is THAT what that yellowish stuff is? It's on a full 1/4 to 1/3 of the silver from my old collection. I just figured it was weird toning on the wear spots. I guess I better go find some acetone!

 

Pitchers of what or which team? I now see pictures of those coins.

 

In a perfect world, it would of been a mistake. But, sad to say, it could have been intentional. This was before the anonymity of Ebay, so most LCSs were honest, especially to repeat customers. And back then most of us were regulars. But there were some that were kinda shady, to put it nicely, especially to younguns just getting started in the hobby.

Glad your pig's ear turned into a silk purse.

 

Buy pure acetone. They come in quart tins found at any walmart, although my walmart is out sometimes like yesterday. Damn tweekers. Or any local hardware store, home Depot, Lowe's etc.

Get a small glass dish if you have too but a wide shot glass that fits a morgan standing on edge is better. Soak it in your bathroom for an hour for good measure and it should be gone. Just remember to use enough so that the coin is submerged say at least 1/2" as it will evaporate completed in hours. After the hour soak, run it under warm tap water immediately, like within 2 seconds to rinse the grime off then lay it on a strip of folded over toilet paper you already prepared then fold the TP over the coin and pat dry or just once or twice then let it sit there for 30mins or so so the way er in the denticles and crevices completely evaporates.

For au/ms coins I'd say do the final rinse in fresh acetone but with xf and below I just run it under warm tap water.

This is the perfect piece to learn about acetone with

 

Um - just to verify, won't that count as "cleaned" and cause problems down the road? Only wondering, because I have quite a few high MS coins that have this yellow on them. Wouldn't want to do something that would seriously decrease value on some of these, if I get started down this road with these coins.

 

You are correct, if they flag them, that's the chance you take ..

 

I think I'll try it on some common date worn ones first then XD

 

Honestly the acetone is not nearly as strong as you might think its not gonna like rip the coins face off. Just saying.....


Check out this thread started by another member who actually got his coins CAC'd after a correct use of Acetone.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/conserved-coins-can-cac.280829/

 

Like anything, i bet it takes practice to get it right. Luckily I have plenty to practice with

 

Acetone is a solvent that will dissolve PVC goo, but will not react with the coin like an acidic dip will. On coins like yours, soak a Q-tip and swab gently, but don't scrub. Acetone evaporates quickly, so you may have to re-wet the swab. Also, have plenty of good ventilation when you work with acetone. TPGs don't mind proper use of acetone on a coin.

 

No. Acetone is an accepted conservation method not a method of that dirty cleaning word. However, if you have thick crud or dirt etc on a coin and the acetone takes it away you may be left with metal underneath that aged at a different rate and thus will look like it's been cleaned. It's a risk you take. In this case the PVC is eating away at your coins. Remove it forthwith!

 

Acetone is an organic solvent, and that yellow is likely glue or tape residue on this coin, or perhaps something else from the storage environment. I'm not seeing it as either "green" or a PVC infestation - fifteen years of PVC working on your coin should have likely pitted it by now. Acetone will remove it without problem, but if the coin acquired any further patina while the glue/tape was in place, the "yellow" removal will result in "clean" patches on the coin clearly indicating it was treated and unoriginal. If I'm wrong and it_is PVC, the acetone is still called for anyway and you should expect a full recovery. Note the radically-different color in C-B-D's case.

Your Mint State coins are almost certainly not the same problem; what you see as "yellow" might just be early-stage toning, which acetone won't touch. Again, if I'm wrong on the color - can't say I've ever seen PVC manifest in yellow - acetone will take care of them too.

 

"Actually"? I haven't read the thread yet, but suspect whatever reason he had for starting it wasn't due to the use of acetone. A coin CACing after acetone isn't at all a surprise.

 

All I was saying is that others have used it successfully.