US Coins

Maltby releases findings from coin cleaning survey

By Susan L. Maltby

Published: Aug 17, 2016, 12 PM

The 1892-S Morgan dollar is rare in Mint State and this one, graded Uncirculated Details, Altered Surfaces by PCGS, sold for $16,450 in January 2016, slightly more than half the value of an unaltered example of the same coin that wasn't cleaned.

Original images courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Preserving Collectibles column from Aug. 29, 2016, Weekly issue of Coin World:

This month I begin reviewing the results of the coin cleaning, toning and coating survey that appeared in my Feb. 29 column.

First, I would like to thank all of the readers who took the time to respond to the survey. I appreciate your candor, comments and questions and the kind words about my column.

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Longtime readers may remember that this is the third time I have asked readers these questions.

The first survey appeared in 1992, the second in 2006. In 1992, I received 188 responses, and in 2006, 753. This year, the response was considerably smaller, with only 38 surveys returned.

The small sample size makes comparisons difficult.

The purpose of the survey was to allow Coin World readers to tell me how they feel about cleaning, toning and coating pieces in their collections, topics that have always come up in any seminar that I have given. I was also interested in learning what methods/products readers were using. The following summarizes the results from the three surveys by year.