Ruined a proof - urgh

[tealcisgod04]

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.

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by tealcisgod04

[Zhorro]

11 minutes ago, tealcisgod04 said:

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.  Alchohol?  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.

 

I think you have been very unlucky.  When a proof coin does not have brown water stains, grease marks and micro scratches, it is a beautiful thing.  Maybe buy your next proof off the Forum?

[tealcisgod04]

7 minutes ago, Zhorro said:

I think you have been very unlucky.  When a proof coin does not have brown water stains, grease marks and micro scratches, it is a beautiful thing.  Maybe buy your next proof off the Forum?

Oh yes 100% Good advice.

[stefffana]

A proof coin is like a virgin woman. Can be beautiful or ugly, skinny or fat, young or old, but is untouched. After first touch, she will remain beautiful or ugly, skinny or fat, young or old, but all her life she will never be a virgin again. 😊

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, tealcisgod04 said:

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.  Alchohol? 

Alchohol, or ather alcohol might have been the best solution:

Although it is better as a solvent than a solution.

I realise this is too late for you, but here is a page I wrote more than 20 years ago:

https://24carat.co.uk/frame.php?url=cleaningcoins.html

 

 

[LawrenceChard]

27 minutes ago, stefffana said:

A proof coin is like a virgin woman. Can be beautiful or ugly, skinny or fat, young or old, but is untouched. After first touch, she will remain beautiful or ugly, skinny or fat, young or old, but all her life she will never be a virgin again. 😊

I once asked a 16 year old girl if she was a virgin.

She asked me what a virgin was, so I explained.

Then she said, "No, I am not one of those yet".

🙂

[tealcisgod04]

19 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

Alchohol, or ather alcohol might have been the best solution:

Although it is better as a solvent than a solution.

I realise this is too late for you, but here is a page I wrote more than 20 years ago:

https://24carat.co.uk/frame.php?url=cleaningcoins.html

 

 

Excellent article!  Thanks for sharing.

By the way I should add that the Canute proof is a really breathtaking coin.  Photos and videos really don't do it justice.  Now I've recovered a bit, I reckon I'll probably flog this and splash out for another before long.

[LawrenceChard]

6 minutes ago, tealcisgod04 said:

Excellent article!  Thanks for sharing.

By the way I should add that the Canute proof is a really breathtaking coin.  Photos and videos really don't do it justice.  Now I've recovered a bit, I reckon I'll probably flog this and splash out for another before long.

I don't know if you saw our earlier "preview" post, with our visualisation mock-up:

Our vision of how a gold proof coloured version might have looked.

It's not too far from, and arguably better than, the Royal Mint's interpretation.

I would have preferred to see a reverse using a portrait from an original Alfred coin.

[tealcisgod04]

Oh wow 🤣 that would have been great.  I mean the image arguably makes more sense in colour.

Than again how cool would it have been to ressurect an original Alfred coin?

[Pete]

You have definitely learned the lesson about proofs.
I am always astonished at how easy it is to mark with very fine lines any proof silver coin.
You open the capsule to examine the lovely mirror finished coin only to see a few small spots of dust on your coin.
No problemo !
Out comes your camel hair soft camera lens cleaning brush from the days of SLR cameras, flick the dust away and F*CK !!!
Laterally moving dust, which could be Sahara sand suspended in the air, and you see your fine lines at glancing angles of viewing.
Sand and many types of dust are harder than the silver or gold and will scratch - Moh's scale etc..
These same dust particles will not scratch your hard coated glasses or lenses because the invisible thin film coating is much much harder than the contaminants.
There are 2 ways of getting rid of dust - high pressure air jet from a can of dust-off BUT hoping none of the propellant spots your pristine surface, or wetting in a bath of acetone or even filtered softened water but dabbing dry hoping that there is no residue or water marks left behind.
Any attempt to dry wipe, even with the softest cloths, can mark.
I have used cottonwool balls in acetone and had decent success but the secret is to remove any debris before wiping hence - hold your coin by the rim and agitate it in warm soapy water before wiping gently with a submerged cottonwool ball barely applying any pressure and then repeat in acetone if you have any. Any drying should be patting with an absorbent paper towel and never "wiping".

 

[tealcisgod04]

Falling about laughing at this.  It's such a shame that proofs are so hard to enjoy.  Yeah I used to use dust off to clean my records and you never can be 100% sure that there isn't a wet blast coming.

One benefit of my recent disaster is that I got to spend a lot of time with the coin outside of its case.  Even now it it beautiful from certain angles, like liquid metal.  An experience I wouldn't want to risk again unless I was in a dust free vacuum chamber and  possibly wearing a space suit.

[Chorlton]

Having bought a gold proof at below bullion prices a while back I had a go at cleaning it and thankfully learnt it’s not a good idea on that one. The majority of the time most people like myself just make things worse and as Lawrence mentioned further up simply cleaning an older coin that has aged well can wipe out its value. I am now able to keep my proofs in the capsules or better still slabs to enjoy them and maintain their condition.

[SilverStorm]

@tealcisgod04 I feel your pain, and thanks for sharing.   If there's anything I learned today, it is don't open up proof capsules for any reason!

Edited May 23, 2021 by SilverStorm

[Simmoleon]

No idea why but when a proof arrives in that capsule and you see the RM dust your brain turns to mush and the temptation to open the capsule absorbs your soul. Your brain says no but it’s too late; you are looking for the NGC submission form and adding conservation to see if they can fix it

We’ve all been here with proofs, it’s a lessons learnt and you only do it once

[sovereignsteve]

11 hours ago, tealcisgod04 said:

My sympathies, we've all been there bud😁

[tealcisgod04]

25 minutes ago, Simmoleon said:

No idea why but when a proof arrives in that capsule and you see the RM dust your brain turns to mush and the temptation to open the capsule absorbs your soul. Your brain says no but it’s too late; you are looking for the NGC submission form and adding conservation to see if they can fix it

We’ve all here with proofs, it’s a lessons learnt and you only do it once

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[tealcisgod04]

18 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

My sympathies, we've all been there bud😁

Thanks Sovereign Steve, yours and the other comments in this thread really lifted my spirits