Morgan dollar question

I have a 1896 that appears to me, a satin finish? Photos are from my phone.

 

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I can't see any evidence of luster at all. It makes me think that the coin has been improperly cleaned. What sort of lighting are you using?

Chris

 

Maybe a cleaned business strike?

 

With the microscope all surfaces appear satin or sand blasted. Could be altered. Not a Morgan expert, just trying to learn.

 

Please take your photos with the face of the coin parallel to the face of the lens.
Crop your photos so they are mostly of the coin.
It's hard to tell anything from a photo taken at an angle.

 

Looks like it was cleaned. Please post pictures of the coin taken "straight on" and with different lighting.

 

I can see from this photo that your single source of lighting is low at 3 o'clock. It is better if you can use two sources of light, placing them at a 45-degree angle to the subject at, both, 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. Some people find that "gooseneck" lamps work best, and you can often find these in thrift shops.

Chris

 

From this picture it definitely looks cleaned.

 

Thanks.

Still stratching my head as to why entire surface is pitted?

 

Looks polished to me. Perhaps they put it in a tumbler and the media used was a bit to harsh. That's a flat out guess.

 

Cleaned or polished. An au someone tried to make shiny

 

It looks harshly cleaned to me. Some abrasive, like auto polish or silver polish and a brush, IMHO.

 

Thanks to all for the help.