1845 Victoria Crown - Cleaned?

[Peckris 579]

ld agree with the investment Debbie, as long as the coin has been agressively cleaned.

Did you mean NOT agressively cleaned there Dave?

Great crown which hopefully will re-tone nicely over the years. Do you think that the different % of silver for example pre and post 1920 tone differently? I'm buying unc George v and George v1 for my OWN collection still Dave!

It think that it does. It's certainly true of the early 1920's silver coins (except those that were blanched) when the mint was experimenting with different metal mixes. Many of these exhibit a yellowy tone with light pastel shades of green, red etc. In my experience, pre-1920 silver is more likely to be colourfully toned than post-1920 silver (which generally tones a golden colour), but is that because of the silver content or just because they are older, or for some other reason altogether.

Attached is the most interestingly toned 1920 coin that I have.

Yes. The 1920-1922 coins are often yellowish, then become less so after; 1925 halfcrowns often have worn patches that are an ugly brown colour; from between 1926-1928 they begin to get it right, though from then on, worn silver alloy coins have greyish patches, which are ugly in their own way, though BU examples are generally better than silver alloy examples of the earlier period.

With cleaned anything, it really depends on the original grade of the coin! A coin in a grade that should be blessed with a high degree of original mint lustre, will be ruined if the cleaning has removed that, no matter how nicely it tones back! Whereas, if the coin is in a grade where the lustre has long since disappeared, but should now be nicely oxidised, you can just about tolerate a past 'non-hairlining' clean, provided it's nicely retoning, or you are happy to nurse it back to tolerance yourself!

I've recently learnt a few things about dipping silver:

1) if you want to learn how to spot dipped coins, dip a selection of junk coins yourself and study the effects! Even the lightest dip can wave a flag at you then!

2) make sure if you are dipping for best effect on lustred coins, that the 'black' you are hoping to remove is sat ON the lustre, and not gobbled through to the silver beneath! Get your loupes out!

3) don't waste your time dipping lower grade coins, except to understand point 1, it never looks right!

4) in my opinion, the only benefit of dipping is for use on atrociously toned coins, where you are feeling happy about patiently waiting for a subsiquent and 'hopefully' eye-pleasing retone, or where you are wanting to remove grime from a full-lustre coin!

5) No, no, no! Caution, caution, caution! Luck, luck, luck!

It's also a fact that lightly dipped coins can remove virtually all ugly toning, but CAN then tone back most beautifully. I have 1917 and 1919 halfcrowns (AEF; GEF) which came from an auction lot in a plastic slide case, and all the halfcrowns had an ugly purple colour tone which came off after a brief dip. I kept those two for my own collection and they have toned back with a gorgeous red/blue tone. So dipping BRIEFLY (a few seconds) can pay off!

[Peter 615]

Be afraid of any cleaning.If in doubt don't do it.

I bought a decent tarnished 1937 crown cheaply.I gave it my best then I've gave it to Mrs PETER who put it through a wash/dry then the mangle and now I have a lump of 50% silver bullion.

[Peckris 579]

Be afraid of any cleaning.If in doubt don't do it.

I bought a decent tarnished 1937 crown cheaply.I gave it my best then I've gave it to Mrs PETER who put it through a wash/dry then the mangle and now I have a lump of 50% silver bullion.

Dipped, polished, scraped, buffed... and now a new cleaning term - mangled

[Gary1000 41]

Be afraid of any cleaning.If in doubt don't do it.

I bought a decent tarnished 1937 crown cheaply.I gave it my best then I've gave it to Mrs PETER who put it through a wash/dry then the mangle and now I have a lump of 50% silver bullion.

Dipped, polished, scraped, buffed... and now a new cleaning term - mangled

I guess you could say it's been ebayed