Posted by David W. Lange, NGC Research Director

This month Dave discusses the difficulty of detecting cleaned copper and bronze coins.

My recent column on the mistaken perception held by many that old coin albums will still prompt attractive toning on coins today elicited a great deal of comment from both collectors and dealers. It seems that everyone has an opinion on the matter, and it also suggested another topic of importance with regard to the aesthetic value of coins. This is the subject of cleaned coins, or, more specifically, cleaned copper and bronze coins. These can be extremely difficult to detect, and many a person has been startled to receive a coin back from one of the grading services with the notations “Improperly Cleaned” or “Altered Color.”

The cleaning of copper coins to make them appear mint red seems to have begun as soon as collectors began saving the old large cents and half cents. The cents in particular became quite popular after their discontinuance in 1857, and many a new collector was created at that time. All new hobbyists take some time to develop their taste, and the more perceptive will eventually come to value the appearance of an attractively toned copper or bronze coin. This is especially true when the coins tone to some color other than simply brown. Among my favorites are pieces toned to a vivid steel blue or emerald green. New collectors, however, tend to be disappointed in any unworn coin that does not look just like it did when made, and attempts to restore that appearance have been performed with varying levels of skill for generations.

Many of the large cents and half cents that exist unworn or just lightly worn have been cleaned at some point. The cleaned coins intended for more advanced collectors are usually found with some form of induced toning to mute the bright orange color that typically results. These can be very attractive coins, and in their early years the grading companies may have let a few slip through, though with experience they have since learned to spot such altered color.

More of a problem is the many thousands of small cents and two-cent pieces that have been improperly cleaned. The wholesale cleaning of such coins began during the 1930s and ‘40s, when the hobby grew in leaps and bounds. The introduction of coin boards and folders created many thousands of new collectors during those years, skewing the hobby population toward inexperienced and unsophisticated buyers. This trend only accelerated in the 1950s and ‘60s. Just as World War II was ending, a series of new chemical coin cleaning products for copper began to appear in hobby publications, and these were widely popular right up through the 1970s and into the early 1980s. It was not until the advent of certified and encapsulated grading in the mid-1980s that the downside of such treatments was revealed. Only then did distinctions begin to be made between original color and restored color, and it became evident just how few pre-1930 copper and bronze coins had survived unmolested.

Since that time many coins have been retoned in an effort to conceal evidence of cleaning, but huge numbers are still offered raw (uncertified) in the marketplace with full, blazing red color. To meet the continuing demand for mint red coins, it appears that new cleaning processes have been developed. These are so deceptive that only an expert can detect original from restored color, and both collectors and dealers may learn the truth only when submitting their coins for certification.

To show how challenging it is to discern modern methods of chemical cleaning I’ll illustrate a coin from my own collection. About 20 years ago I found this lovely 1916 cent in a dealer’s case and was drawn to it immediately. At that time the coin was blazing mint red, with what seemed to be very convincing color. Of most interest to me, however, was the fact that this cent displayed an amazingly sharp strike from new dies that had no signs of erosion. Indeed, it possessed the detail of a proof. The certification of Lincoln cents was not as common then as it is today, so the fact that this coin was raw did not set off any alarms. A price was agreed upon, and I quickly placed this gem in my type set. A few years later, however, the coin began to tone in a slightly unusual manner that I had not seen in coins known to have original color. I came to suspect that it had been dipped (chemically cleaned), and I would soon have my suspicions confirmed.

I teach a course on collecting USA type coins at the ANA’s Summer Seminar, along with co-instructor Frank Van Valen of Stack’s Bowers. For ease of handling by our students, I try to get all of my type coins encapsulated. Since this Lincoln was still the sharpest one in my collection (being even more detailed than my matte proofs of 1910 and 1913), I had a dealer submit it to NGC with some other coins of his own, knowing full well the outcome. The graders indeed pegged it as having Altered Color. Nevertheless, it remains a great teaching tool, both in developing students’ appreciation for coins of early die state and as an example of very deceptive cleaning.

David W. Lange‘s column, “USA Coin Album,” appears monthly in the Numismatist, the official publication of the American Numismatic Association.

Article re-posted on CoinWeek with Permission of NGC

The number one-ranked collection of United States large cents in both the PGCS and NGC Set Registry listings will be publicly displayed in Chicago at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money, August 16 – 20, 2011. The historic coins from the Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation include some of the finest known examples of large cents struck from 1793 to 1857, as well as 18th century colonial coppers, and small cents struck from 1857 to the present day.

The foundation’s exhibit is co-sponsored by Stack’s Bowers Galleries (www.StacksBowers.com) and Collateral Finance Corporation (www.cfccoinloans.com), and will be displayed at the Stack’s Bowers booths, #805 & #906, during the five-day show.

“This is a truly amazing collection, valued at millions of dollars. There are 101 pieces and each is among the very finest known for its respective date and type. Many of them are simply the finest known, period,” said Chris Napolitano, President of Stack’s Bowers Galleries.

While supplies last, visitors to the exhibit can receive a free, 40-page illustrated booklet published by the foundation, “Portraits of Liberty,” that describes the history of U.S. large cents.

Highlights of the exhibit include:

• 1795 Washington Liberty and Security Penny, Bust Right, graded by PCGS as MS64BN, the finest known and sole specimen graded of less than 10 known to exist, formerly from the famed Norweb Collection;

• “1776” Libertas Americana Bronze Medal, graded by NGC as MS65BN, among the very finest known of the iconic medal ranked #1 in 100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens, by Q. David Bowers and Katherine Jaeger;

• 1793 Chain Cent (S-2) graded PCGS MS65BN that set a world’s record in 2005 as the most valuable U.S. cent;

• 1793 Wreath Cent, PCGS MS69BN, the single highest-graded 18th century U.S. coin of any date of denomination;

• 1794 Liberty Cap “Head of 1793″ Cent, PCGS MS64BN, described by Logies as “the single finest representative work of early Mint engraver, Joseph Wright;”

• 1794 Liberty Cap “Head of 1795″ Cent, PCGS MS67RB, ranked by Early American Coppers as the single finest known Liberty Cap cent of any date or variety;

• 1803 Draped Bust Cent, PCGS MS66RB, acclaimed by the Early American Coppers society as tied for the finest known Draped Bust cent of any date or variety;

• the record-setting 1842 Braided Hair Cent from the Naftzger Collection, PCGS MS65RD, widely acknowledged as the finest existing “Petite Head” type;

• another record-setting coin from the Naftzger Collection, an 1852 Braided Hair Cent, graded PCGS MS65RD, and acknowledged as the finest existing cent from its era;

• and an exceptionally rare proof 1857 Flying Eagle cent, PCGS PR65CAM, highlighting the Cardinal Collection’s #1 ranked small cent type set, which is rated with an amazing average grade of 69.56.

“The Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation is a non-profit educational organization that focuses on the study and publication of information about early coinage of the United States of America. The foundation is delighted at the opportunity for thousands of people to see in person in Chicago these superb-quality American cents that span all eras of American coinage, thanks to the valued assistance of Stack’s Bowers Galleries and Collateral Finance Corporation,” said Martin Logies, a director of the Sunnyvale, California-based foundation.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries is a division of Fortune 500 Company Spectrum Group International, Inc, with an extraordinary history that includes the cataloging and sale of many of the most valuable collections to ever cross an auction block – the John. J. Ford, Jr., and Louis E. Eliasberg collections, the Harry W. Bass, Jr., Collection, and the Norweb Collection, to name just a few. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, with offices in New York, New Hampshire and Hong Kong. Stack’s Bowers Galleries is the Official Auctioneer for several important numismatic conventions, including the ANA World’s Fair of Money and ANA/PNG Pre-Show, and the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Expos in Baltimore, three times yearly, and Philadelphia. For additional information call (949) 253-0916 or visit online at www.StacksBowers.com.
Collateral Finance Corporation of Santa Monica, California offers precious metals financing to dealers and collectors on a wide array of bullion and numismatics. For additional information, call (310) 587-1410 or visit www.CFCcoinloans.com.

For additional information about the ANA World’s Fair of Money, visit www.WorldsFairOfMoney.com.