A couple days ago, I posted that I finally found a Civil War era half-dollar for reasonably good price. The pictures posted by the seller were high resolution and decent sized, as shown again here:




I received the coin from the nice gentleman today, and found it to be quite a bit "cleaner" than the photos show. The patina that is evenly applied on the original pics, now appears to be in concentrated clumps; this is especially true on the reverse where the small stripes on the shield emblem are quite dark. There is also some residual gunk/patina around the letters spelling out "United States of America".

Am I correct in assuming that between the time the first seller's pictures were taken that this coin has been cleaned, wiped down, dipped, or any other modification applied?

thanks for any help!

Doug

my scans: not the best, but it clearly shows the patina/gunk still evident in some places, but clearly absent in others.

Yes Doug, the coin has been cleaned. Now whether it was cleaned after the pics used by the seller were taken or not I cannot say - but I rather doubt it. It's more likely the pics were presented that way on purpose. Just my opinion on that part - but the cleaning, that I would bet on.

thanks for weighing in Doug!



Doug

Now the question is, was the price "good" enough to keep the coin?

Cleaned yes at some point. From the sellers pics you can see the gunk pretty easily, but you have to be looking for it. Sellers often take pics to downplay problems, you have to look real hard for them.

thanks for weighing in. I contacted the seller, who has a very fair return policy. In fact, that is why I bid on this item, he states he will take back any coin for a full refund within 7 days. I'll return the coin, and search for another Civil War era half to suit my "needs". thanks!


Doug

I looked to see if it was even the same coin and even though your pics were very different in terms of angle and clarity I was able to see enough points to safely guess that it is the same coin pictured.

Why on earth he would clean it before shipping is beyond me. I have a pre civil war half that was almost jet black and really looked bad that I cleaned with dip and some light wiping. It looks very much like what was sent to you. The half pictured in the auction was very appealing and did not deserve "the dip".