Do you think NCS could help this coin in a meaningful way? 1 1

[stldanceartist]

Just discovered I had this coin today (after owning the set for a few months) - 1971 S Proof Lincoln Cent DDO FS-101 - and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with NCS conserving/removing a spot similar to what's currently occupying the back of Lincoln's head?  Apologies for the images being a bit blurry, was shooting through the OGP AND the coin isn't flat in the holder:

 

Whole coin:

Closeup of LIBERTY

Closeup of Date

 

Closeup of Reverse Die Dent:

Edited February 24, 2021 by stldanceartist

[Coinbuf]

Cool find, to answer your question it really depends on what you define meaningful as.  They may be able to remove the spot but it will always be obvious that something was there as the surface has almost certainly been changed or etched.  At the very least that area will be shinny and not reflective or mirrored as the rest of the fields are.   From a dollar value perspective I am not sure, although I am a Lincoln cent collector I do not collect varieties or proofs.  So I'm not sure how collectors of this type of coin will value it, certainly its value is reduced but I just cannot say how much.

However if you or any future owners do nothing the spot has a good chance of growing and damaging a larger area of the coin going forward.  Doing something about it now will stabilize and save the coin from any further damage but I have no idea if the cost of conservation will outweigh the change in value of doing/not doing the conservation.

[Conder101]

They may be able to make the spot less noticeable, but it will always be evident that it was/is there.  Even after conservation it would probably still receive a details designation.

[RWB]

The large contamination spot behind Lincoln's head appears to have already etched the surface. The coloring can be removed but not the damage. The small spots might be removable, but it hardly matters. The coin is damaged. As Coinbuf noted, the most important outcome of conservation is chemical stabilization of the surface in an attempt to prevent further damage.

There are a couple of dealer selling prices of $800 for PR-67 and $1,750 for PR-68.

[stldanceartist]

15 hours ago, Coinbuf said:

Cool find, to answer your question it really depends on what you define meaningful as.  They may be able to remove the spot but it will always be obvious that something was there as the surface has almost certainly been changed or etched.  At the very least that area will be shinny and not reflective or mirrored as the rest of the fields are.   From a dollar value perspective I am not sure, although I am a Lincoln cent collector I do not collect varieties or proofs.  So I'm not sure how collectors of this type of coin will value it, certainly its value is reduced but I just cannot say how much.

However if you or any future owners do nothing the spot has a good chance of growing and damaging a larger area of the coin going forward.  Doing something about it now will stabilize and save the coin from any further damage but I have no idea if the cost of conservation will outweigh the change in value of doing/not doing the conservation.

I agree with what you say - it IS a cool find, and left unchecked I feel like it will continue to grow/cause more damage.  Looking closely at the coin, there is indeed a "booger" on the surface (as is common with these early proof sets) that has started a chain reaction with the surface of the coin.  Left as is, I'm sure it will at the very least dig down deeper into the surface of the coin, and possibly to a wider extent outward.

14 hours ago, Conder101 said:

They may be able to make the spot less noticeable, but it will always be evident that it was/is there.  Even after conservation it would probably still receive a details designation.

Yes, I agree with this as well - it will always look like "something" was there in that spot.  

9 hours ago, Lancek said:

Probably possible with silver or gold coins.  But copper is a fickle metal.

Ain't that the truth, haha...and I've had mixed results with NCS.  Sometimes helpful, sometimes not so much.  I don't always hold them responsible for "fixing" all the problems...but in cases like this, where basically I could achieve similar results without paying an exorbitant fee and the coin will still always look like there's a big black spot on it...I just feel like it's most likely not worth the effort to send it in and pay someone to do what I can do here for free.  

I suppose I was more specifically asking if anyone had had a coin similar to this that had gotten decent results from NCS conservation.

1 hour ago, RWB said:

The large contamination spot behind Lincoln's head appears to have already etched the surface. The coloring can be removed but not the damage. The small spots might be removable, but it hardly matters. The coin is damaged. As Coinbuf noted, the most important outcome of conservation is chemical stabilization of the surface in an attempt to prevent further damage.

There are a couple of dealer selling prices of $800 for PR-67 and $1,750 for PR-68.

I think we are all in agreement here that no amount of proper conservation will completely make the coin look like it never had a big black spot.  So that's consistent, which is helpful.

I suppose the next main question (which you began to answer) is this - what is a PFDetails FS-101 worth?  And replies like someone over at CoinTalk - "it's worth what someone will pay you for it" - don't really do anything to help answer the question.  I suppose a more specific question would then be "does anyone collect Lincoln Cent Die Varieties, and have they seen enough examples of completed sales to accurately estimate what this coin is worth so I can ask a reasonable price for it?"

I tried registering at the LincolnCentForum to post the question over there, but my registration request has yet to be approved.

[RWB]

Well, to me, the OP's Lincoln proof is PR-67 at best and after removal of the small spots, etc. If the $800 retail asking price is typical, then a "Details" version might - might - be offered at retail for $300, assuming the remainder of the large spot is not too distracting. Since there are 2 other doubled die proof varieties, a seller might have to wait for a buyer to come along and nibble.

[Henri Charriere]

I took the liberty of diving into the shark-infested, murky waters of eBay minutes ago and while I did not find a 1971-s matching your description, I was stunned to discover entire 5-coin sets issued by the Mint in original blue quality government packaging were on sale now some 50 years later at $5.99, $6.00, $8.25, $12.85, $19.89 on up to $39.95, along with descriptors like "excellent condition" or "gem" along with "seller does not accept returns" as well as the boilerplate forms of payment accepted. 

It seems to me that you should arrange to have the most detailed, technologically advanced photos of the coin taken, slap a carefully worded description on it with a sale price of 499.99/OBO and leave the matter of grade for the buyer to decide.  You don't want to emphasize the negative, misrepresent or mislead. So you let the pictures do the speaking for you.  The rest is up to you.  I have considered the points raised by each of the commentators above but feel the positives outweigh the negatives.  Many of us who've ordered products directly from the mint discovered previously unseen "carbon" spots in later years.  Some of us have gotten so accustomed to seeing them that we accept them as just being another phenomenon in the natural order of things.  All things considered it is a very lovely [proof] coin and I, too, would caution against tampering with it.

[numisport]

If this coin was already in an NGC holder I doubt they would conserve. That said I like it better in the set. It's too bad NGC wouldn't grade the coin while still in the holder as they would GSA dollars or proof Ikes 😒

[GoldFinger1969]

It almost looks a bit like a bullet.  Maybe you could get a special label and call this the John Wilkes Boothe Lincoln Penny.

Might be unique and bring a premium.  I'm serious.