Better than nothing!

I bid on a Two Cent piece the other day that was hawked as being a Large
Motto coin. Though the photos were not so hot, I decided to place a bid on
it. Turns out I was the only bidder on a 99 cent opening bid. Even though
the thing is in poor shape, imagine how happy I was to see that I now have a
Small Motto coin:

http://www.freshonmymind.com/sm/1864sm.jpg

This old deuce is very porous and I suspect that it spent a few decades out
there sleeping under a clod somewhere before it was discovered by an
enterprising enthusiast. Please feel free to heap ridicule on me for
bidding on such an apparent loser. I don't mind. Actually, I'm delighted
to have this one!

Amistad
'proof that size does matter!'

Amistad wrote:
I bid on a Two Cent piece the other day that was hawked as being a Large
Motto coin. Though the photos were not so hot, I decided to place a bid on
it. Turns out I was the only bidder on a 99 cent opening bid. Even though
the thing is in poor shape, imagine how happy I was to see that I now have a
Small Motto coin:

http://www.freshonmymind.com/sm/1864sm.jpg

This old deuce is very porous and I suspect that it spent a few decades out
there sleeping under a clod somewhere before it was discovered by an
enterprising enthusiast. Please feel free to heap ridicule on me for
bidding on such an apparent loser. I don't mind. Actually, I'm delighted
to have this one!

Amistad
'proof that size does matter!'

The thing actually still has pretty good detail, but I have to say it
is one sad looking little 1864SM. Still, with them bid at $90 in Good,
even in its damaged condition, it has to be worth more than you paid
for it. They are pretty darn scarce overall no matter what condition
they are in.

Amistad wrote:
I bid on a Two Cent piece the other day that was hawked as being a Large
Motto coin. Though the photos were not so hot, I decided to place a bid on
it. Turns out I was the only bidder on a 99 cent opening bid. Even though
the thing is in poor shape, imagine how happy I was to see that I now have a
Small Motto coin:

http://www.freshonmymind.com/sm/1864sm.jpg

This old deuce is very porous and I suspect that it spent a few decades out
there sleeping under a clod somewhere before it was discovered by an
enterprising enthusiast. Please feel free to heap ridicule on me for
bidding on such an apparent loser. I don't mind. Actually, I'm delighted
to have this one!

The old gal has character still. Where's the flip side pic?


--
JMark

"bgg" added a bit of helpful advice:
Perhaps a lengthy bath in some olive oil is in order... I have a coin
with some "corrosion" in the olive oil now. It's been about a month so
far, and the results are promising...

I'm not sure that would help in this case. I soaked (for a couple of years)
a Shield Nickel that looked very porous like this. When I began to try to
remove the "scale" from it, the detail was lost. It actually looked better
before I started messing with it...

Amistad
'but YMMV with that one'

"reality" took a look and decided to comment on the ol' deuce:
The thing actually still has pretty good detail, but I have to say it
is one sad looking little 1864SM. Still, with them bid at $90 in Good,
even in its damaged condition, it has to be worth more than you paid
for it. They are pretty darn scarce overall no matter what condition
they are in.

Yes, it does indeed display a decent amount of detail. I forgot to mention
in my initial post that the reverse has no such damage and grades at least
F, maybe VF. I doubt that I would have ever paid much to acquire one of
these, so that makes the find all the more special to me.

Amistad
'happy within the realm of numismatics!'

"JMark" observed, and then asked:
The old gal has character still. Where's the flip side pic?

Yes, she does indeed still have a lot going for her. Flip side pic? Ah,
you know -- if you've seen the reverse of one deuce, you've seen 'em all.
;-)

Amistad