So I know there are people in the world with real problems right now and nobody died or lost an eye but just wanted to share this story. Hopefuly might give someone a LOL.
So I've never been a proof guy... but picked up a silver proof King Canute cus I really liked the design. Anyway that bad boy arrived in the post yesterday. I opened him up and to my shock there was a brown globule of water inside the capsule. I don't know if it was condensation or what. I also know that I should have left well enough alone, contacted the seller and sent it back.
But I was a fool... an impatient fool and I couldn't let it lie. I took a clean hankie, opened it up and dabbed the wet globule away. Job done. Perfect.
Except... on closer inspection it left two small grease marks on the kings cheek. Tiny marks, not too much larger than the eye of a needle. Only visible at certain angles. Leave it alone I thought. You're playing with fire. Screw up the capsule and forget about it.
But no! I was a fool twice. I took the hanky, bunched it up to a fine point and tried to brush the marks away. Big problem. Now the marks have spread all over the king's cheek. Disaster.
I rushed to Google. Alcohol? Hand sanitiser? Soapy water? I went for soapy water. Put on gloves and dipped it in water with a spot of fairy.
OMEGA LEVEL DISASTER...
Now the grease marks have cleared to reveal a horde of micro scratches obviously caused by my wiping. What's more I pad the coin dry and now there are water spots on it and it it's attracting great heaps of dust from the air. Each pad of the towel just makes it worse and worse. The formerly beatiful obverse is now misty and spotted.
Fine. I give up. Lesson learned. Don't buy any more proofs... I'm not cut out for the world of proofs.
Anyway, at least I have a goofy story.