Was it wrong to clean these coins?

[artalien]

The reason my cleaned coins sell for below spot is that it costs to refine to 999, I thought.

The game is rigged as always, premium in, premium out.

(wonders why those posts didn't merge)

Edited September 26, 2022 by artalien

[SidS]

To me a scrap coin is one which is: holed, holed and plugged, mounted, ex-mounted, bent, pitted surfaces, squashed, verdigried, graffitied, heavily worn to be mostly blank, corroded etc.

Basically the kind of coin you feel dirty by touching, or is just badly adulterated or damaged.

[artalien]

3 minutes ago, SidS said:

verdigried

" 1a : a green or greenish-blue poisonous pigment resulting from the action of acetic acid on copper and consisting of one or more basic copper acetates. b : normal copper acetate Cu(C₂H₃O₂)₂·H₂O." Had to look that up Sid. Yeah I have a godless florin that is damn near blank, I think of it as scrap.

[SidS]

Yeah verdigris is horrid stuff. It's not really an issue on pre-1920 silver, but it does occur with some regularity on the 50% silver. It's a common blight of copper coins.

Any coin that's come my way, for stacking purposes, has already lost any value it has if it has verdigris, as far as I'm concerned.

I've had a few pre-1947s, some were too far gone and were disposed of (binned or resold) the ones that only had a little, I scraped it off, including some of the metal underneath. Seems brutal but it is necessary.

However, verdigris left unchecked will spread across the coin over time, but worse still, it also spreads to other coins in its the vicinity.

It's like measles.

[Stuntman]

Precious metal coins that aren't aesthetically pleasing and aren't in demand are definitely scrap in my opinion.  I would sell them for scrap value.

The OP's silver coins, whilst aesthetically quite pleasing, aren't really in demand and I would also value them as scrap.  But would probably keep them if I liked them.

Verdigris is fairly horrible stuff, but can be treated/checked/removed to some extent.  If so, keep the coin if it's otherwise aesthetically pleasing and/or has some numismatic demand value.

Nice Sheryl Crow reference earlier, OP.  I noticed... 😉

[artalien]

4 hours ago, SidS said:

However, verdigris left unchecked will spread across the coin over time, but worse still, it also spreads to other coins in its the vicinity.

Nasty, thanks for all the information on it SidS, appreciated..

[artalien]

3 hours ago, Stuntman said:

The OP's silver coins, whilst aesthetically quite pleasing, aren't really in demand and I would also value them as scrap.  But would probably keep them if I liked them.

It's quite incredible really that such lovely coins with great detail are scrap but I absolutely understand the evaluation.

[KevjustKev]

There's a video on YT where a really good looking young lad, (no idea who that could be) uses an ultrasonic bath to clean 'junk' coins. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by tallthinkev

[Arganto]

I have a slightly different take as far as pre-47/pre-20 currency goes. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to buy it based on its metal content only but the youngest of these coins are over 74 years old and are an easy way to collect examples of British history. They may have minted millions of examples but the remaining number will dwindle over time. I also don't see it being sold for spot price unless it's bought in bulk (usually by the hundreds of grams and up), it does happen but it's less frequently the case as far as I've seen. 

I suppose it's a distinction between price and subjective value; if something is priced at or around spot it's often considered scrap, but despite that it can have more than it's basic intrinsic value depending who you ask.

A philosophical distinction I suppose 😉

[MonkeysUncle]

Is this a good time to confess to a bottle of HP sauce...

Just asking, not confessing. Well, not unless the consensus is it's a good time!

[Petra]

9 minutes ago, MonkeysUncle said:

Is this a good time to confess to a bottle of HP sauce...

Just asking, not confessing. Well, not unless the consensus is it's a good time!

Plenty of vinegar in that🤔🫢

[Silverlocks]

On 25/09/2022 at 22:17, artalien said:

Think there might be an opportunity there for a Royal Mint series - British Philosophers - 🥰

Or Australian ones -

 

[artalien]

22 hours ago, tallthinkev said:

(no idea who that could be)

me either. Come on now post us a link, please my friend.

[artalien]

21 hours ago, Arganto said:

They may have minted millions of examples but the remaining number will dwindle over time.

Pre 1920 seems to sell for as much as 70% over spot. I totally agree that pre decimal silver will get more expensive as time passes and not just because silver is headed to the moon 😃

[artalien]

6 hours ago, MonkeysUncle said:

Well, not unless the consensus is it's a good time!

Today is a good day to die. HP FTW 👍

[artalien]

6 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

Or Australian ones

Since you seem to like the humour, Silverlocks:

 

[SidS]

3 hours ago, artalien said:

Pre 1920 seems to sell for as much as 70% over spot. I totally agree that pre decimal silver will get more expensive as time passes and not just because silver is headed to the moon 😃

This is good to know!

I knew it would do well in the long run.

[SidS]

8 hours ago, artalien said:

Pre 1920 seems to sell for as much as 70% over spot. I totally agree that pre decimal silver will get more expensive as time passes and not just because silver is headed to the moon 😃

Is there a point where you end up with too many shillings?

[artalien]

3 minutes ago, SidS said:

Is there a point where you end up with too many shillings?

lol I'd say 200 was still a bit light.

[SidS]

1 minute ago, artalien said:

lol I'd say 200 was still a bit light.

That's 314 - 16 rows - £1 face per row (except the last).

I guess most people on here are after Brits and Sovereigns - I've been stockpiling pre-1920 silver since about 2000.

[artalien]

1 minute ago, SidS said:

That's 314 - 16 rows - £1 face per row (except the last)

I just love the 90% and the 92.5% as well. Well done you Sid, I think you'll be doing A OK on the pre 1920. Lucky you.

[SidS]

6 minutes ago, artalien said:

I just love the 90% and the 92.5% as well. Well done you Sid, I think you'll be doing A OK on the pre 1920. Lucky you.

Well it wasn't built in a day. It's been over 20 years worth of slow accumulation.

I probably could have had double the weight in silver if I'd stuck with bullion, but I wouldn't enjoy it half as much. Modern bullion, Brits/Eagles/Maples just don't interest me, they don't have the human factor, the history, the questions of, "What has this bought? Where has this been?"

My pre-1816 coins give me the most satisfaction.

[artalien]

31 minutes ago, SidS said:

Modern bullion, Brits/Eagles/Maples just don't interest me, they don't have the human factor,

Quite right, got to be kept in isolation in some sort of plastic casing, untouched by a dirty hoooman hand. I like to be able to handle my silver. We are on the same page Sid, it seems.

[richards]

They've come up really nice. I'm not sure why anyone would be bothered by it really, though I doubt I'd do it to anything with much rarity value.

Edited September 30, 2022 by richards
I can't type.

[artalien]

9 hours ago, richards said:

though I doubt I'd do it to anything with much rarity value.

I fully intend to keep the coins I cleaned Richard and I agree that one should never clean a coin with numismatic value. Having said that I don't think I'll ever clean a coin again. I am in flux as I learn I change. Thanks for your post mate.