Thanks. You learn something new every day. Good info. I figured I was in trouble when I saw there was a reply from somebody with a username like yours!
I'm not too Merc crazy (I don't own a single Merc Dime reference, for example, and I own more Morgans than Mercs... for now... until I get this package that's en route), I just know a lot of random crap about coins from reading thousands of posts here, haha.
I cant tell you how much I have learned from all of you just what little time I have been a part of this site. The most important thing I got so far, and will pass on to anyone just starting, is get on a site like this and buy the proper books. Learn as much as you can and then collect. You will know how to spot fakes, and build a good collection and not waste time and money.
I have a Red Book and even I didn't notice this to be cleaned. Which I'm still not 100% sure it is. I do see all the small scratches all over the coin, but I only see them in the pictures I take and not when I look at the coin itself under a magnifying glass. Plus, I still don't feel like the man who sold me this coin would lie about it being cleaned even after I asked him if it had been because's he's warned me BEFORE about other coins he KNEW were cleaned. I don't even know... I still love it!
The way I look at it is, if you like the coin then that is all that matters. I mean you don't want to be cheated out of money, but I have coins that aren't worth much and love them.