How is it possible that ANACS grades a coin at MS 61 and mentions in the heading improperly cleaned? Is it possible that someone would ever try and clean a MS61 coin? WHY?
Never underestimate a person's willingness to tamper with a coin in an effort to make it look "better". Or perhaps someone wanting to test his ability to clean a coin chose the one in question because it couldn't be made much more than it already was.
perhaps it was a heavily tarnished coin and they tried to clean it and make it better but in cleaning it, the wrong way, made it only good enough to be a 61
I'm juss amazed that there's an MS coin out there that hasn't been encapsulated since its creation. If it wasn't slabbed, then I wonder how it avoided being circulated down to AU condition?
There are TONS of MS coins that are still raw. I know because thats the way I like them, and I don't have any problems finding them.
Just like the Gov. found millions of Unc. CC Silver dollars in the 60s and sold them in the GSA sales , also think of the unc rolls people are saving today , people have been doing it for a long time , collectors saving coins is our responsibility to future collectors to have MS coins . rzage
Now that would be different. The slab might say MS details, improperly cleaned. But I've never seen one that listed an actual MS grade number if the coin was improperly cleaned. Do you have a link or a pic of this coin ? I'm wondering if ANACS has changed their policy again.
Nah . . . it was on last weeks auction. Let me see if I have one in inventory. I'll take a picture and post it.
As to why cleaning any coin. Just keep reading this web site. That question comes up probably more than anything else with coins. People just don't like dirty looking coins or anything old. Note on that program the Antique Road Show how many times you hear "If this hadn't been cleaned or repainted it would be worth..........." For some reason the majority of people will wear dirty cloths, drive a dirty car, eat food that has fallen on the floor but just have to clean coins.
Why would MS61 coins be different from any other grade ? They get cleaned for the same erroneous reasons as all other coins.
Because an MS61/60 is as close to AU as you can get and still be uncirculated. So someone might try and climb a grade or two with the cleaning and/or doctoring. That's why I guess.
