I was looking for Seated Halves on Ebay to use as pocket pieces (ditched the Morgan thing) and found this '53-O. Is it problem free? It's like $19 if that helps.
Pocket piece is one of the ways to get a coin back to problem free though. A cleaned XF is a problem free PO1 assuming no one took a chunk out of it or holed it ect. That coin looks like a good fit for your purposes
Yep , any problem areas on a coin will wear off if carried long enough . Your's looks pretty much problem free already . Have fun getting it to an PO1 .
Considering the coin RN, I would say AG-3. And question: Can a coin wear down by contact with cloth or does it have to rub against another coin?
You do realize that these coins, unlike the mentioned Morgan, were workhorses, so one being worn to poor isn't quite the same special achievement, right? Rub it with your finger long enough and you'll see wear, but that's not the point. If you're going to do this, do it right and treat the coin as originally intended. If you screw around or try to speed the process, you're likely to turn an otherwise honest and respectable coin into essentially scrap.
Hope you're patient. I've been carrying a harshly cleaned ASE as a pocket piece for going on three years now, and it's barely showing any wear at all -- and .999 silver is significantly softer than coin silver.
Here is my 1867 that is pretty well worn and looks problem free. Think she would get a PO1? (If anyone wants to buy it shoot me a PM, I need some money for college)
ANACS has a few: http://coins.ha.com/itm/seated-dime...mintage-43-690-numismedia-ws/a/131445-23231.s http://coins.ha.com/itm/large-cents...s-0-64-pcgs-population-0-14-/a/131524-25014.s http://coins.ha.com/itm/early-dimes...on-2-57-mintage-33-040-numis/a/131143-28156.s