1917 Walking Half-Dollar, Fake or ?

I've been researching through eBay for some junk silver and have run into several "auction-style" coins that reflect the coins in VERY-Good condition. I have to ask you ALL GURU's about how to determine fake junk-silver coins. Thank you in advance. here's some picture from their auctions.

 

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I don't know if it's fake or not, but it looks like it's been cleaned mercilessly. maybe with steel wool.

 

looks real

 

Yeah @atcarroll.... that's exactly how it looks... but I find that the coin was purposely cleaned... to show how clean and crisp the flag, stars on the flag, Ms. Liberty's crown and then the stamped date. My concern is that there is so much fake stuff out there ... how is one going to know before buying it ??

 

Cleaned

 

If you think either of the coins in your first post are in very good condition you really need to first learn to recognize a cleaned coin versus an actual uncirculated or near uncirculated coin before worrying about if a 'junk silver' coin is fake. If not you'll likely lose or burn more money buying 'VERY-Good condition' coins that are actually complete junk they you will from buying fakes.

 

Brillode, and what a shame as the grade is would be close to AU.

 

I know that these coins have been cleaned... that's reflected on the scratches visible to the naked-eye. Thank You for stating the priorities... and I'm well-aware of them; however, the brilliance of the coin seems suspicious to me. If the coin were cleaned, that may explain the sheen; and that would destroy most of the 90% silver the coin is made-up-from. I'm just curious if these examples speak of fakeness or not. Thanks

 

I dont see anything off the bat to see if they are fake. These are not dates where you usually see fakes.

 

How exactly would cleaning the coin 'destroy most of the 90% silver the coin is made-up-from'? The surfaces are ruined yes but the coins still .900 silver and it's why junk silver is valuable and frequently bought and sold to begin with.

As for the appearance of the coin if you can recognize a cleaned coin than you should know what a cleaned coin looks like which is unnatural and because the mint luster is destroyed they often look 'off'. Both those coins are typical examples of a cleaned coin and neither coin imo is fake. Ones an example of a coin that's been scrubbed to death and the other is a coin that received a less harsh but still unacceptable cleaning and it's why they're likely being sold as 'junk'.

 

Since the coin is solid 90%, that would mean the coin would be destroyed.

 

I am either XF-Details or AU-Details. It's hard from a photo sometimes.
The cleaning scratches are evident on both sides and destroys the value of this coin.

 

I don't see it even in XF detail. Really harsh cleaning.

 

First coin, cleaned. Second coined, polished.