Nasal Sebum (Parental Guidance Advisory)

Yeah, that's "Nose Grease" to us plebeians and it's just as disgusting as it sounds.

Among the many roles of this miracle product of unhealthy teenager's noses is it's use as a filling / smoothing agent for coins with sketchy surfaces. (also lip gloss!) Who needs eeze-clene or brasso when you can just squeeze out a few drops of nose grease and make your coins shine like new?

Now you might be forgiven for thinking that I'm making this up. After all I am the bloke who started the rumor that the Mexican bird and snake symbol was being changed to include a leafblower. Well, you'd be wrong - it's really a thing. So much so that PCGS have used it as a reason for a "details" grade (altered surf.) on their slabs and have even described it as common. I'll pause for a second while you check your calendars to see if it's April 1st.....

Someone showed me such a coin years ago and at the time I thought it was a fake, perhaps transrayded into Ingrish by those lovable guys at the Big Tree factory who were not known for their accuracy back then. Having thus dismissed it, I forgot all about it until it found a reference to the practice in a most excellent article dating from 2000. (recommended read for the day)

https://www.pcgs.com/news/detecting-doctored-coins-part-2

So I did a bit of further reading and it turns out that it's widely known to have been going on for some years. Why didn't any of these bastards tell me? It certainly puts my vague fears of contracting Hansen's Disease from my beloved Lazereto collection into perspective. If things weren't bad enough, it turns out that one of the only ways to discover a coin treated this way is by smelling it. Still think coin graders are overpaid?

http://pension-cherubini.com/2016/02/01/numismatics-3-weird-ways-crooks-are-doctoring-your-coins/

If it is, as PCGS claim, common then it's very possible that one or more of you reading this are in fact "nose greasers". While I doubt that it's anything most folks would admit to I'd really like to hear from anyone who has done this. We won't be swapping any coins any time soon but I'd love to know the reasoning and the results. I mean what's so bad about a dab of gun oil or WD40?

I believe a new low has been reached, not just for numismatics but for humanity. With each passing year I become more anti-social and more of a recluse, mainly because of Walmart type people but this kind of stuff goes a long way too. Bugger it, I'm moving to Tennessee and living on my own personal bit of mountain.

P.S. I'm convinced that I've seen a slab with the wording DETAILS - NOSE GREASE but I can't find one in a search. Has anyone else seen one of these or recall it having a specific code allocated. Maybe it was one of the non big three?

Interesting read.

I personally found the one about ketchup more worrying (and probably more common as well) since I remember being shown a "magic trick" when I was little where a brown coin (the colour of milk chocolate) was turned pink by rubbing ketchup on it for a while...

I'm a little skeptical about how common PCGS says it is, perhaps showering twice a day makes a difference, but I tried the nose thing and harvested hardly enough to be visible on the tip of a fingernail . Perhaps someone less hygenic might have more but I'm still skeptical you can gather anywhere near enough to do what they claim it is used to do... there might be some other (more plentiful) lubricant being used in this manner though.

Yummo.

After reading this I had a search and found a discussion thread about it where people readily admitted using it and continued to say all the other uses for it, like repairing negatives before scanning them, bringing out the grain in a wooden pipe, even as a replacement for gun oil.

Absolutely gross.

Quote: "neilithicman"​Yummo.
​
​After reading this I had a search and found a discussion thread about it where people readily admitted using it and continued to say all the other uses for it, like repairing negatives before scanning them, bringing out the grain in a wooden pipe, even as a replacement for gun oil.

​you didn’t mention the most valuable use.....chapstick!
Just rub your lips on your partners nose and the wind will not split you.

PS, showering twice a day is not healthy

Quote: "redsmithstudios"​

​It's fine, I enjoy relaxing and pondering ShowerThoughts™ anyway.

I wonder if we'll ever see the day when it's bottled, labelled and sold to an eager public? It worked with water so I reckon there's no end to the gullibility of the average consumer.

Acids are often unkind to copper, as a general rule I find it useful to condense it to "Oil for dark coins, acids for bright ones".

Showering might deprive me of the opportunity to grease up a few coins, but it does give me the chance to sing. Not very well but very loudly. Enthusiasm and self confidence are far more important than trivial things like talent. This guy gets it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VSRMRh8fEs&t=108s

Quote: "aaronmgd"​Absolutely gross.

Very true, a bit like when you are at the public toilets and the previous user urinated across the whole seat (which he didn't clean up) and all the other toilets are occupied whilst you are desperate for a No.2.

(Well, maybe not as bad)

Quote: "pnightingale"​I wonder if we'll ever see the day when it's bottled, labelled and sold to an eager public? It worked with water so I reckon there's no end to the gullibility of the average consumer.
​
​Acids are often unkind to copper, as a general rule I find it useful to condense it to "Oil for dark coins, acids for bright ones".
​
​Showering might deprive me of the opportunity to grease up a few coins, but it does give me the chance to sing. Not very well but very loudly. Enthusiasm and self confidence are far more important than trivial things like talent. This guy gets it.
​
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VSRMRh8fEs&t=108s

​
You're also more likely to have your loved ones want to get closer to you if you don't smell like a billy goat.

I was thinking of not bathing for a week and seeing what I could "cultivate".

Then I thought about the other body areas. EWWWWW!!!

I'll pass.

Quote: "neilithicman"​

Quote: "pnightingale"​I wonder if we'll ever see the day when it's bottled, labelled and sold to an eager public? It worked with water so I reckon there's no end to the gullibility of the average consumer.
​​
​​Acids are often unkind to copper, as a general rule I find it useful to condense it to "Oil for dark coins, acids for bright ones".
​​
​​Showering might deprive me of the opportunity to grease up a few coins, but it does give me the chance to sing. Not very well but very loudly. Enthusiasm and self confidence are far more important than trivial things like talent. This guy gets it.
​​
​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VSRMRh8fEs&t=108s

​​
​You're also more likely to have your loved ones want to get closer to you if you don't smell like a billy goat.
​

​You are what you eat!

Quote: "pnightingale""pnightingale"
​​You are what you eat!

​

Quote: "Numismatist uk"​

Quote: "aaronmgd"​Absolutely gross.

​Very true, a bit like when you are at the public toilets and the previous user urinated across the whole seat (which he didn't clean up) and all the other toilets are occupied whilst you are desperate for a No.2.
​
​(Well, maybe not as bad)

​yup...