Silver Coin Buying

Freshly minted coins have a luster that makes them look beautiful, but freshly minted coins are not of much use to a collector, as the value of a coin increases with age. If you find a coin which is a few years or decades old, it would most certainly have lost its luster, but collectors value it much more than a freshly minted coin, although it does not look half as beautiful. The value of a coin is not in its luster and shine but in its vintage.  

If a vintage coin gives a lustrous look, in all probability it has been cleaned. Cleaning a coin is the surest way to kill its value to a numismatist. When a coin is minted, because of the pressure applied, on the planchet some molecular changes take place resulting in a flow of the metal which gives rise to a pattern on the surface of the coin called cartwheels. These are extremely delicate line patterns which are formed and are clearly visible under a microscope. Some of these cartwheel patterns get damaged due to natural use of the coin, however they are not totally destroyed.  

If a coin has been cleaned, it is a sure shot way to destroy the entire pattern and thus the value of the coin. Numismatists do not mind if the coin is covered in dirt and grime and has stains and does not have the looks of a new coin, as long as the cartwheel patterns are present. The older the coin, the more valuable it is but if it has been cleaned, then it will at best fetch the intrinsic value of the coin and will not classify as a collector’s object. 

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