I was just looking for opinions. I bought this in an NGC details slab for a decent price (6,000 mintage). Auction photos didn't look cleaned. In hand it doesn't look cleaned, but I do see some obverse hairlines with my loupe. And they show in my photos. Anyway, wanted to get opinions. Fair grade?
From the pictures, I don't see obvious cleaning but a small patch of hairlines that can only be seen at certain angles is enough to cause a coin to grade details. There is definitely a spectrum of cleaned coins from barely noticeable to super obvious. The ones that aren't obvious tend to bring more at auction and make for good album coins (nothing wrong with keeping it in the slab either). Also, the grading companies do get it wrong sometimes or are willing to net grade coins at times. I've seen a Morgan that looked MS 65 with nice color get netted to MS 61 because of a small patch of hairlines. I've also seen coins cracked from cleaned holders come back straight graded.
Yeah, there's no breaks in the luster, the reverse has a little toning. I wonder if maybe the hairlines on the obverse are from a past storage method. Not worth the cost to resubmit it, so it will live in the details slab.
Unfortunately the surfaces have been been altered. The shine you see is not natural. This one is graded MS-64. I think that you will be able to see the difference.
