NUMISMATIC CONSERVATION SERVICE

[tommyd]

Has anyone ever submitted any coins to NCS for a "numismatic conservation"??

[Guest Stujoe]

I have never submitted anything to them but I have one of their slabs. Apparently, this one was beyond conservation.

 

[tommyd]

What motivates one to submit a coin like that for slabbing???????????

[Art]

I have a few NCS slabbed coins. They're evaluated as to cleaned and such and marked with a net grade and as genuine. I think that's a separate service that they offer. They'll verify that a coin is genuine.

 

[Guest Stujoe]

What motivates one to submit a coin like that for slabbing???????????

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I wondered the same thing when I saw it on Ebay.

 

 

I have heard a couple of good reports on rcc about NCS. I doubt they are miracle workers but they can do some stuff apparently.

 

Have you seen their photo gallery on their site? Worth a look.

[Guest Stujoe]

I have a few NCS slabbed coins. They're evaluated as to cleaned and such and marked with a net grade and as genuine. I think that's a separate service that they offer. They'll verify that a coin is genuine.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I thiunk they will slab problem coins by themselves with a Details Grade or as Authentic Only. Kind of like ANACS.

 

If you want a coin conserved and it can slab at NGC afterwards, they will do that too.

 

I have joked before that they are the 'Not Good Enough To Be In Our Regular Slab' division of NGC.

[jtryka]

I have a 1927-D Peach Dollar that was affected by PVC, and I sent it in to NCS for conservation. They did an amazing job, removing the PVC and leaving the other surfaces undisturbed. The coin is now in an NGC slab graded MS-63: 1927-D Obverse

1927-D Reverse Overall, not bad for the $15 they charged me to do it.

[Art]

I have a 1927-D Peach Dollar that was affected by PVC, and I sent it in to NCS for conservation.  They did an amazing job, removing the PVC and leaving the other surfaces undisturbed.  The coin is now in an NGC slab graded MS-63: 1927-D Obverse

1927-D Reverse  Overall, not bad for the $15 they charged me to do it.

 

Sounds like quite a bargain to me. The coin is beautiful.

[bobbycoin]

I have a 1927-D Peach Dollar that was affected by PVC, and I sent it in to NCS for conservation.  They did an amazing job, removing the PVC and leaving the other surfaces undisturbed.  The coin is now in an NGC slab graded MS-63: 1927-D Obverse

1927-D Reverse  Overall, not bad for the $15 they charged me to do it.

 

I was quite interested to learn what a Peach dollar was

 

Did you happen to take pics before sending it in?

 

-Bobby

[gpnyc]

I sent a 95-W Proof Silver Eagle to them once. Has a white spot on the coin. They took the fee and did nothing. I guess they counldn't help my coin.

[whohah]

I'd liked to have seen a 'before' picture of the 'Peach' dollar to see the comparison with 'after.'

[jtryka]

You know, I type these things at home on my tiny and old laptop and I never hear the end of my typos!

 

Unfortunately I do not have any before photos of the coin, but I can try to describe it. The coin seemed normal when looking straight on at a 90-degree angle to the surfaces. But when you tilted the coin, you could see a major league green haze along the surfaces of the obverse especially. It seemed like mold was growing along Liberty's neck, face and hair, and there was a fair bit of haze in the fields as well. The reverse wasn't so bad, showing only a few spots of green haze when held at an angle. So they neutralized the PVC and then removed it leaving the underlying surfaces intact and as you can see, quite beautiful. The reverse was the same situation, but you will notice a spot of light toning by the word "United" which was there before conservation and remains now. So this was not a simple "dip" job, but a focused effort to conserve the coin and remove the harmful PVC contamination.

 

As for others who could not be helped by NCS, it's unfortunate for them and good for the rest of us. Personally, I am very glad that NCS chooses not to conserve some coins, either for the sake of originality or the simple fact that conservation would not benefit some coins. I would be far more suspect if they "never met a coin they couldn't conserve." In either case, they still must charge the evaluation fee, which I believe is 1% or 2% of the value of the coin with a minimum fee of like $10. It would be disappointing to be charged for them doing "nothing" but you must remember they had to evaluate the coin in detail before coming to the conclusion that they couldn't help. So if you are like me, being about the furthest away on the spectrum from "coin doctors" you could benefit from NCS' services.

[ginocatt]

I wonder if NCS conserves larger medals? I have no need to have my medals slabbed so that part of the service doesn't interest me. I would be interested to know if they can help with the common problems of pests found on many medals made of Zink and pot metals. Many a rare WW.I commemorative medal remain almost uncollectable because of spotting and corrosion that has developed on them in the last 90 years. I wonder if their service is just a 'once over' or do they invest in problem solving. When I read that the charge to conserve a silver dollar was only $15 I thought that they could not have done much more than give the coin a careful 'dip' for that price. Do they give you an estimate? Does anyone know if they deal with large cast medals.

[28Plain]

I have a 1927-D Peach Dollar that was affected by PVC, and I sent it in to NCS for conservation.  They did an amazing job, removing the PVC and leaving the other surfaces undisturbed.  The coin is now in an NGC slab graded MS-63:  Overall, not bad for the $15 they charged me to do it.

Not a bad deal since you wanted it graded anyway. The effect of an acetone soak on PVC scuzz is dramatic, but it's a simple process and well within the ability of most collectors. Acetone bathing leaves no evidence that it was done since it has no effect at all on anything but the goo. Probably the taboo against cleaning stops many of us from doing the basic and harmless cleaning needed by some of our coins.

[28Plain]

they neutralized the PVC and then removed it leaving the underlying surfaces intact and as you can see, quite beautiful.  The reverse was the same situation, but you will notice a spot of light toning by the word "United" which was there before conservation and remains now.  So this was not a simple "dip" job, but a focused effort to conserve the coin and remove the harmful PVC contamination.

 

 

Hate to bust your bubble, but what they did took almost no effort. Removal of degraded PVC residue from a gold or silver coin is Skate City. All that's needed is plain acetone, a clean glass container with a top and some time. You simply immerse the coin in the solvent, seal the container and leave it for 12-24 hours, then remove the coin and rinse it with some clean acetone while holding it by the rim.

 

If they'd had to do more than that, it would have cost more. Acetone doesn't cause a reaction on silver or gold coin alloys and leaves any toning undisturbed. What it amounts to is a soak job rather than a dip job. Dipping takes some experience since the dipping solution attacks oxides and sulphides on coin surfaces and is actually a more demanding process than acetone soaking. A professional dip job from the same people would have cost much more than you paid for the acetone soak and would have resulted in a net grade for a conserved (cleaned) coin.