Winter Color Zone 6

A Basic Guide to Detecting Doctored Gold Coins

BY Doug Winter – RareGoldCoins.com

There is no getting around the fact that doctoring of rare United States gold coins is a problem in the market. Doctoring is not new. I’ve heard stories of American collectors and dealers “messing” with coins as far back as a century ago, and I have no doubt that the problem dates back even further in Europe. But it is really only the last decade or two that we’ve seen increasingly sophisticated doctoring done in an attempt to fool the grading services.

At first, I thought about using lots of photos to verify what I am going to discuss in this blog, but I don’t want to taint specific coins that don’t belong to me by pointing out obvious doctoring. So I am going to be as descriptive as I can be without using images. Hopefully, this will work.

For me, one of the most obvious ways to detect a doctored gold coin is by looking at its coloration. One of the reasons that I spend a significant amount of time describing the coloration of specific coins in my books and on the descriptions of coins in my inventory is so that collectors will become familiar with what natural color is supposed to look like.

Once a collector becomes familiar with the way a coin is supposed to appear, it becomes easier to detect coins that don’t look the right way. For instance, the early date Dahlonega half eagles have a specific deep green-gold color that is easy to appreciate. Conversely, an issue from this era with the “wrong” color will not look right to a collector who is familiar with the series.

Many of the people who doctor gold coins aren’t great numismatists, so they don’t necessarily know the right color for an 1840-D half eagle or an 1878-S eagle. Becoming a knowledgeable numismatist within your field of collecting will put you in a far better position when it comes to determining whether or not a coin has been doctored.

There are a number of different types of artificial coloration that are found on gold coins. These depend on the specific chemical that is applied and how the process is undertaken.

Typically, chemicals placed on gold coins break down after they have been on the surface for a period of time. When you see a gold coin that has crazy color in a PCGS or NGC slab, this color didn’t exist on the coin at the time it was graded; it changed within the slab.

One color that doesn’t naturally exist on gold coins is deep orange or what I refer to as “Cheeto Orange.” Think of that crunchy corn snack and the color it left your hands after you ate a few handfuls. I see many United States gold coins in holders that have this flaming orange hue.

Geomatics 2009 | Blog | Plants and Flowers Stories

This syndicated article is a excellent resource for plants

When you hear the words “shade garden”, the image conjured up is probably all green plants, like ferns, hosta, or even coleus. There’s nothing wrong with ferns and hosta and in fact, they make the perfect starting point for a shade garden. To add punches of colors, use flowers that will bloom in partial or even full shade.

When choosing the flowers, consider its mature height and when it blooms to provide the most impact in your flower bed. Be sure to check hardiness zones for plants best suited for your area. Note: The lowest zone number is 1, meaning at that location the minimum temperature expected is minus 50 degrees. The highest zone number is 11, where the minimum temperature is 40 degrees. See the USDA hardiness zone map for details.

Bulbs and Tubers

Bulbs and tubers get planted in the fall and bloom in the spring. Once planted, you only need to dig and divide them every few years. Following are flowers stemming from bulbs or tubers that work fine in shaded areas.

Hardy Cyclamen. According to Ed Hume of HumeSeeds.com, this flower blooms “during the autumn months of September, October and November. A few species flower earlier and others into the months of January and February.” Flowers can be pink or white. Grows to five inches. Zones 5-8.

Spanish Bluebells. Tiny little bell-shaped flowers in either lavender-blue, lavender-pink, or white, this beauty does well cut for a floral arrangement. It blooms midspring after growing about a foot tall. Zones 4-10.

Spring Snowflake. This delicate white flower grows to about six inches and blooms in late spring. Each petal of the blossom is marked with a tiny dot. Zones 4-8.

Winter Aconite. Reaching just four inches in height, these yellow beauties will pop up in late winter. Zones 4-7.

Flowering Shrubs

Flowering shrubs can be used to fill areas where you have a lot of space. Just remember when planting shrubs to space them apart according to the directions that come with the shrub. You want to ensure they have plenty of room to expand as they grow. Following are some flowering shrubs.

Azalea. (Click picture next to article title) Very popular and easy to grow, common azalea are available in white, shades of pink, coral, and some varieties come in lavender. In the spring, they offer a flood of color as they bloom. According to Azaleas.org, “Some varieties can get quite tall, into the tens of feet, while others remain spreading groundcovers less than 12 inches in height.” Zones 7-9.

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