I'm no expert,but looks like its been cleaned to me because of all the little scratches in the field. These are pretty common and can be had in nice condition near melt. All that really matters is that you like it though. I could be wrong about the cleaning,maby its the pics. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will chime in soon.Oh and :welcome: to Coin Talk,hope you stick around
Looks like a polished AU, but perhaps the images are leading me to be harsh about the coin. These are a great piece of US history as they are the first (1892 and 1893) half dollars specifically made to commemorate an event, anniversary or person.
Good looking coin. Can't tell if its cleaned with that picture but if you're happy with it thats all that matters. The 1892 is a much harder and expensive one to get if you're planning on one.
Looks to have been cleaned and polished but if you're happy with it that's all that counts. Mine looks pretty rough as well.:thumb:
It seems to me that you might have a piece purchased from one of those mail order or telemarketer programs where they put a coin in a piece of plastic with a writeup and then sell them. The reason I say that is you have written that it has not been removed from its case. These were not sold in a plastic case when issued in 1892/1893 and any that are in a plastic case were put there at some point by someone else. If you could show an image of the entire package that the coin is in then that would be helpful. As it is, you have multiple sets of experienced eyes telling you it has been cleaned and/or polished.
Thank you. Yes, your coin has almost certainly been polished. These holders often contain polished coins and are typically sold at a great markup to the actual value of the coin. At this point I have confidence that my initial impression of the coin being a polished AU is correct.
The coin is worth about $12.50 for its silver content, and an AU Columbian half dollar might be worth $2 to $4 more than bullion value, so if the coin weren't polished it might be worth $15-$18. However, the piece has almost certainly been polished, so its value might be a couple dollars less.
Pity for the polishing, but a nice coin to get your feet wet with when it comes to collecting classic commems Machete. I hope you didn't pay too much for this piece as they can be had for very reasonable prices (problem free) both raw and holdered. Here's one of mine...... This one has a nasty scratch going through Chris' eye but I grabbed it for the marvelous toning that's going on with the piece.
