Finn235 Posted February 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Reviewing some of my finds from before, I noticed that several of the halves from the early 70s are beginning to show signs of toning. Three have a very faint gold appearance to them, but one in particular is beginning to develop a slight purple luster in the fields, while the relief is faintly gold-toned. Any tips on how to store these coins to encourage further toning? All of them would easily grade between MS60 and 65, so my guess is they were confined to a Fed vault and exposed to whatever is in the roll paper for 30+ years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn235 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Well, finally got around to picking up another box from the bank today. Wishing I hadn't. Only notable finds from that box were a BU '72, a '78-D (the only missing coin in my '71-01 set), and a '91-D counter-stamped with a peace sign. The box was clearly heavily searched, and interestingly bore the marks of at least three different roll searchers. One used a red sharpie, and either traced along the right side of Kennedy's head, or made a small X on a badly damaged coin. Another used a purple sharpie, and seemed to enjoy ruining all the BU '95-Ds he could get his hands on. Interestingly, the last one marked at least 5 coins with '69' in black sharpie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I've seen quite a few marked coins. Not sure what these folks are thinking when they do that. The banks in this area do not keep half dollar rolls. Everything goes back to the Fed as quickly as possible and then they get dumped into auto sorters/rollers and reboxed. Marking is just a waste of time and good coins. There are quite a few silver searchers in the area from what I can tell. Can't blame them it could be quite profitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn235 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Sadly, I'm beginning to realize that it would be more profitable to just pick up another job at minimum wage and just buy a few '64 halves for every extra day I work. Now that I have all the halves I needed for my set, I'm probably going to retire from them for at least a year. Nickels are more exciting to search anyway, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Sadly, I'm beginning to realize that it would be more profitable to just pick up another job at minimum wage and just buy a few '64 halves for every extra day I work. Now that I have all the halves I needed for my set, I'm probably going to retire from them for at least a year. Nickels are more exciting to search anyway, in my opinion. I always enjoyed searching nickels and cents too. Never had much enthusiasm for dimes or quarters. In my area both seem to be dry wells. Of course there are few of the Roos or Wash that I need for my collection. I still have not found a single National Parks quarter in circulation and very few of the territories - mostly DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Sorry to hear about the rollsearchers... I had no idea markers existed. Might be suitable for a new thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isai76 Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 I've searched thousands of dollars of Kennedy's and found many incredible finds. One I can't figure out is why some of them have a 'S' on them. It's on the obverse between the 'T' and 'Y' in Liberty. It looks raised. I have a picture but I don't have adequate lighting at home. Anyone have a clue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 I've searched thousands of dollars of Kennedy's and found many incredible finds. One I can't figure out is why some of them have a 'S' on them. It's on the obverse between the 'T' and 'Y' in Liberty. It looks raised. I have a picture but I don't have adequate lighting at home. Anyone have a clue? It's someone's way of marking the coins. Some people do it to see if they every get the coin back. Some do it thinking they can enhance the value of the coins tht remain unmarked. Some people just have too much time on their hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Just did 4000 Kennedys. Found 1 90% and 1 40$. Pretty poor results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stilson Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 The box was clearly heavily searched, and interestingly bore the marks of at least three different roll searchers. One used a red sharpie, and either traced along the right side of Kennedy's head, or made a small X on a badly damaged coin. Another used a purple sharpie, and seemed to enjoy ruining all the BU '95-Ds he could get his hands on. Interestingly, the last one marked at least 5 coins with '69' in black sharpie. Don my flame suite. OK flame away. I have not tried it on coins. But I have used "Off" insect repellent to remove sharpie marks on other metals. (Brushed aluminum for one.) It even worked on one of those dry erase boards where it had set too long. Not sure how it work on coins. And it could cause another problem. So hopefully someone may have a better idea. Out at work the metal workers would use sharpies to mark for drill marking etc. We would clean off the "Off" with trichloroethylene afterward. (On this part both items are chemicals. Especially the trichloroethylene which is not the best thing for health and safety reasons. ) You probably should wait until someone else chimes in here. Also remember when I used it. It did not matter if we rubbed to help remove the markings. So it probably would not be the answer. (Got a real bad feeling posting this. And probably should go with the gut feelings not to post. But I have not been flamed in a while.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isai76 Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 It's someone's way of marking the coins. Some people do it to see if they every get the coin back. Some do it thinking they can enhance the value of the coins tht remain unmarked. Some people just have too much time on their hands. Thanks for the info, Art. I have 3 Kennedy's that are "marked" the same way. I found it strange and interesting. I had one from a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I searched through 2 boxes of halves and found 2 of those "S" marked Kennedy's. but not just that. In my first box I found nothing. We searched and rolled that box and I was able to send it back to the bank that same day. After I got home from the bank and started on my 2nd box. This one was great. Found nine %40's and a '63 Franklin. I was very happy I already have ordered another 2 boxes for pick up tuesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Don my flame suite. OK flame away. I have not tried it on coins. But I have used "Off" insect repellent to remove sharpie marks on other metals. (Brushed aluminum for one.) It even worked on one of those dry erase boards where it had set too long. Not sure how it work on coins. And it could cause another problem. So hopefully someone may have a better idea. Out at work the metal workers would use sharpies to mark for drill marking etc. We would clean off the "Off" with trichloroethylene afterward. (On this part both items are chemicals. Especially the trichloroethylene which is not the best thing for health and safety reasons. ) You probably should wait until someone else chimes in here. Also remember when I used it. It did not matter if we rubbed to help remove the markings. So it probably would not be the answer. (Got a real bad feeling posting this. And probably should go with the gut feelings not to post. But I have not been flamed in a while.) I wouldn't worry about being flamed. The coins are basically garbage anyway. There are so many of them that marking to increase scarcity is a total waste of time. Marking to see if you get the same coins back works if you can do "roll" type exchanges at the bank. My bank will only order 2000 worth at a time. When I get them I return them to another bank or spend a bunch of them. (My wife hates that part. My take is it's cash. Take it or leave it.) Of course they all still go to the same FED and get redistributed from there. I'd really like to find a way to get some from Atlanta or Charleston or maybe even Richmond but I'm too uncaring to bother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikaros Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 I'd also add that a marker, permanent or otherwise, is its own solvent--I have used this fact to get Sharpie marks off a dry-erase board, just wet the area with fresh marker and wipe it off before it can dry. Of course, that brings us into the whole scary area of applying *anything* to the surface of a coin... I suppose the question is, what's ultimately worse from a grading standpoint--the permanent marker, or the effects of removing it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Depends on the rate of reaction and quantity, I guess. I know from having pets that, with urine, we need to soak it up ASAP but... more solid excrements.. can be picked up easier if sat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn235 Posted March 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 I wouldn't worry about being flamed. The coins are basically garbage anyway. There are so many of them that marking to increase scarcity is a total waste of time. Marking to see if you get the same coins back works if you can do "roll" type exchanges at the bank. My bank will only order 2000 worth at a time. When I get them I return them to another bank or spend a bunch of them. (My wife hates that part. My take is it's cash. Take it or leave it.) Of course they all still go to the same FED and get redistributed from there. I'd really like to find a way to get some from Atlanta or Charleston or maybe even Richmond but I'm too uncaring to bother. I wouldn't bother with the Atlanta FED. That's where I'm from, and the last four boxes I've picked up have been nothing but junk. First box had 3 90%'s, a few 40%'s, and two proofs, but nothing more than a stray 40% every other box since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsessedwithpennies Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 well, about the sharpie marks on coins, acetone usually removes them without cousing the coin to look cleaned at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn235 Posted August 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 Bump with results from a new box: 2009-D. I decided to pick things up after my long break, and I now remember why I was taking that break in the first place. I found a handful of coins worth keeping, including a few BU 71-Ds, a couple '78s and a '79-D. No silver, no proofs. Fewer coins were marked this time, although about 20 were marked with a red sharpie at the back of Kennedy's head. At least the '09-D makes for the rarest coin I've ever found in circulation, proof or otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saor Alba Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 Hadn't noticed this thread, but I have been getting skunked on Kennedies for the past couple of weeks. A few proofs and bag only releases from the early part of the millennium but no stanking silver. I am going to stick to nickels unless I can find Kennedies in some off the beaten path bank or credit union - the only places I have luck finding silver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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