Conservation Showcase: China (1911 - 15) Yunnan 50c

BEFORE CONSERVATION
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AFTER CONSERVATION
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Many Chinese coins from the early part of the 20th century have spent a good deal of their existence buried and are now quickly being uncovered. This silver 50 cent coin from the province of Yunnan in the south of China was submitted to NCS in hopes of having the thick encrustations and odd coloring — both signs of where this coin has been — removed prior to certification with NGC.

The conservators at NCS have developed techniques to carefully remove the red, brown, and green encrustations from the surface of silver coins such as this. As is always a goal when conserving a coin, the most minimal impact to the original surfaces is sought. The conservation efforts on this classic Chinese coin were successful. All offending residues were removed, leaving the surface with a gentle tone as one would expect of a coin of this type. The coin graded numerically with NGC following the conservation work.