1857 Seated Liberty Quarter - What say you?

Just scooped this guy up, think I got a decent deal ($53). Not so good with the subtleties of this series & grading.. I can ballpark but not nail it down to see if its worth having graded. What do you think gradewise? Thanks!!

 

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XF details, but also harshly cleaned. But at $53 that's not a bad buy, but not a huge deal either.

 

Thats what I was thinking about the cleaned part. How can you tell with this one and what should I be looking for in general?

 

A coin that high of grade should have original luster. On your coin the luster has been removed by the harsh cleaning. See all of the line going in the same direction? Those are bad cleaning marks. Also, a 150 year old coin should not be that white and shiny.

 

Yup, so don't waste your money getting it graded unless you just want to make sure it's authentic.

 

Here's one that most likely hasn't been cleaned, other than by fingers while it was in circulation.

 

Btw OP, just as an aside, don't get mad at the person who cleaned this coin. You don't know what the circumstances were. I hear a lot of people railing about the jerk who cleaned the coin, how he should be shot, etc. Maybe this coin was found in a very late state of oxidation, and such a harsh cleaning was the only way of preventing further damage. It happens, many of these coins were found black, and surface damage had already occurred, so the only way to save the coin was to do this to it.

Just clarifying for everyone that we don't know WHY this coin is harshly cleaned in the past, and there may be a logical reason for it.

Chris

PS I am referring to people in general on posts like this, not on this particular thread.

 

Yup, for all we know, someone 100 years ago had to clean it so they could spend it, because it was worth 25 cents then and that went a long ways back in those days.

 

Plus - cleaning was a pretty common practice by collectors many years ago.

 

And folks cleaned their coins quite a bit during the famine days of the late 19th century into the early 20th century. Do some of you remember reading about the incuse design debacle of the Indian quarter and half eagles?

 

Do you mean the fear that harmful bacteria could be held in grime of the incuse design?

 

Yes sir, that was it.

 

Well, honestly it could. Now, if that coin would have been silver it would have been safe. Silver is a natural anti-bacterial. The US's hand were never so germ free as when all change was silver.

 

Well if that's the case, a little rumor about zinc, nickel and steel should bring silver back, if you know what I mean