So upon moving back through the years there seems to be a slight decrease in the average coins appearance for every year back, in other words its alot easier to come across a very nice looking 90's but maybe more difficult to come across a nice 60's cent. I come across this 1959 penny in a huge bag of mixed coins from all ages and it sticks out quite alot from other late 50's coins I've seen. Does anyone have opinions as to if this 59 has been cleaned before or if it just seems to have a good look to it despite its age? Any general advice about how to decide if a coin like the one here has been modified or cleaned would be greatly appreciated.
I'm relatively new to collection coins but so far I've figured out: #1- Look for scratches that run from one end of the coin to the other, it indicates cleaning with a rough material. #2- Look for residue or grime in the deepest parts of the coin but nowhere else on the coin. Often a cleaned coin will look very shiny but if you look closely you'll see left over grime int he deepest parts. I would say looking at your coin above that it's not cleaned. It has scratches but they are not uniform or all in the same direct and seem to be just bag marks. I don't see left over grime and it's not toned (sometimes a result of using a cleaner on it).
Looks like it might be a circulated proof coin. If you can crop off the sides or take a larger image we can see the grade too.
I agree it's got some luster the light area from the date to behind lincolns head and united to america on the rev. A proof would not reflect the light like that I know this is a 54 not a 59 but a proof lincoln from that era is a proof lincoln for illustration puposes. It's just a red-brown 1959 cent and you can find nice coins in or out of OBW for the very late 50's, 60's and 70's but they are sold as Bu rolls or OBW rolls. If you are just looking for rolls from the bank then no you aren't going to find much of those dates in this nice of a condition all the time. I know it's not the same to roll searchers but when you can get common 60-80's cents in rolls of Bu sometimes as low at $2 and no higher than $4 dollars a roll it's worth it; rather than killing yourself looking thru $100 worth of 50 cent rolls from a bank.
Okay I'm starting to understand how to tell the difference between cleaned and just lightly circulated, I won't keep posting questions on this thread but I did have one more question about another coin from around the same time. I'm leaning more towards just lightly circulated as well, but I'm still new to deciding Any thoughts??
OP, not sure if it helps or not, but some of this will come with experience and knowledge. Advanced collectors know which coins are BU commonly, and can spot the majority of cleaned coins in about a second. Between the two it does get easier. If you see a bright shiny 64 kennedy that is to be expected since most of these are uncirculated, but a bright shiny seated liberty half will cause us to look closer.
Yes that makes alot of sense, the more rare or scarce the coin is, the higher the suspicion is as to why its in such good shape. Thanks to all who inputted, its been very helpful advice!
