!) Did I just start getting people into .50 pieces??!!?!??! AWESOME...
Super fun... today I found an add on KIJIJI that said he had 3 bags of silver dollars and .50 cent pieces... they were all post '67 so all the others that contacted him weren't interested...
Without hesitation I was over at his place picked 'em up for face and told him exactly why... he said his daughter works there and he'll call me when there's more in.... Gold star for me.. on being so polite.
I really am enjoying the .50 cent piece... I find that due to lack of circulation there really is a good chance you can find some that are in fantastic condition..
Like the pennies I'm actually trying to make a good set from at least '68 to 2002 ... very achieveable really..
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Someone else mentioned that the hand wrapped coins have caused a problem with dirt and grime and such.
I have found the same things.... given that all these coins are pretty circulated I figured I would start a bit of my own research (which may be a touch controversial)
I want to make some good sets of '60 - 2012 pennies... that look really nice...the pennies are circulated and they never will be worth more than one penny IMO... so I am going to practice certain dips and whizzing techniques.
So far, for dips I have been looking at vinagar, lemon juice, and potassium cyanide.
My technique for whizzing right now is basically using a standard drafting eraser, inserting it in my corded drill and going to town on the penny.
I want to read more about the cyanide before I get my hands dirty with that of course... but so far I have done a bit of whizzing on some pretty ugly coins to see what can be done about the "brown"
I've gotten some really good results from whizzing with the exception that it's very difficult to get a lot of dirt removed from some of the edges of either the letters, date or profile... It's also best to build something of a frame for the penny on a block to help hold it...it save your hands a lot of cramping.
I think only time will tell but so far even under a 10x loop it's hard to see any direction lines or scratches that indicate the penny was whizzed.
Tomorrow / today is a provincial holiday... I'm hoping that I may get a chance to play around a lil as a coin doc and test out some dips... if anyone is interested in the results let me know...
I do wish to state that I'm only doing this for my personal collection of coins I really don't value nor do I see much value in them... and that I do believe you shouldn't dip or whizz coins to improve their re-sale value or grade if you're planning to sell them as it's unscrupulous and unethical.