Love this coin. Hope it grades!

Yes, look at the nose, mouth, lips areas. It looks as if someone borrowed a few of your instruments and did some work to sharpen the edge of the devices, where it meets the fields. Kind of like a root planing and scaling for coins.

 

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You know...that makes total sense.

 

Having had the pleasure of that procedure, and getting another one in two weeks, I understand how the coin feels. lol

 

Here is a question though...in those areas that appear to have work done to them. I would think they would slightly work the fields to make the bust appear a little stronger. However, that area of the field (next to the chin) is quite dark and toned. I would think it would if it had been worked on...it would be less toned than the rest of the field. I agree that this area looks altered...but what am I missing?

 

I think that they did work the fields as well. There was some smoothing done on the upper right field, and that, combined with the use of one of your tartar picks (know them well), made the fields look smooth, and the devices more contrasty. Tooling of early Silver coins is quite common, and I believe you to be right about the fields being overly smooth. Look at the extremely angular nose and chin....more so than normal. The hair where it meets the left hand field also looks worked.

 

OK...but then my question is, why would those tooled areas appear more toned? I would think they would be less toned since that metal was more recently exposed.

 

My guess is that this work was done 40-50 years ago and tone has accumulated in that area. Tooling was done in the 1960s a lot.

 

OK, that makes sense. Was tooling considered a good thing back then...like cleaning?

 

Tooling was more drastic than cleaning. It was done to make coins more marketable. It was coin doctoring. Cleaning was considered less drastic than tooling, although both are "no grade" devaluations of at least 50% nowadays.

 

I know that today it makes coins ungradable. But, I also know there was an era when harsh cleaning was consider acceptable (and even a good thing). Was the same true of tooling?

 

Would you love it any less if it didn't grade? If so then don't send it in and stay in love.

 

Just heard from PCGS. VF details cleaned.

 

I was wondering about the fields being smoothed upon a second look could be from an old cleaning tho is definitely dipped and retoned. At least

 

Bummer..sorry to hear that.

 

Well, at least they didn't call it tooled. "cleaned " is not always the kiss of death. If you don't see patches of hairlines with a point source light it might grade, eventually. The area that bothered me is the field under LIB. I still think that is a very nice looking DBH!

 

You got off easy. The obverse is highly tooled and smoothed. Look at the wide gutters surrounding the outline of the face and hair, and the overly-sharp detail within the hair itself. Frankly, I'm shocked PCGS only mentioned the cleaning.

 

So is that what 'tooled' means?

To sharpen the edges of devices to enhance the details and the contrast of the coin?

 

Wouldn't they want to list the most severe problem if they are only going to list one? It seems to me (based on the photos of course)...that the tooling is the bigger issue on this piece. But, perhaps I am wrong.

I suppose it doesn't really matter. A problem coin is a problem coin.