Detecting Cleaned Coins

Any practical advice on detecting coins that have been cleaned? I've read articles online (and those that have been posted here) but I'm still a little unsure about it, especially when viewing photos of coins (as on Ebay, etc.) instead of the real thing. Anything in particular I should be looking for?

 

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My one piece of advice I can offer for detecting cleaned silver: Avoid battleship grey. It is almost always a sign of previous cleaning.

 

I can sometimes tell when I notice a little crud between/beside the letters or numbers but very little anywhere else.

 

I am certainly no expert, but I suspect when you see a large cent that is sort of orange, it has been cleaned. I have a few.

 

Detecting a cleaning from an image is tough unless the images are very good quality.
When looking at any coin in hand, use a loupe and try to look at it under one light at an angle. When tilting the coin side to side, you will see hairlines generally going in the same direction covering both the fields and the portrait. With copper the color will seem off.

The coins that are difficult are circulated gold as they gain hairlines from bring in circulation, and coins that have been dipped. From what I have seen, coins that have been dipped do not have hairlines going in one direction but lighter hairlines going all over the place. Pictured is an 1810 Bust Half that was dipped at one point and then placed in an album gaining nice color.

 

When someone tells you"well actually" that's die polish you see on the
devices actually. Wallk away.

 

She looks like an old woman sporting a young girl's hairstyle. That's another sure way you tell.

 

... I'm certainly no pro in this category, but I can tell you what I have done to make myself a little more educated. When I first started collecting Morgans, I went to eBay and bought 3 or 4 PCGS holdered "problem Morgans" code .92 (harsh cleaning or polishing). You can usually find them for Just over the price of melt. I then cracked them out of the holders and studied them with a 10x loupe for hours (couple min here and there). I figured that if PCGS said it was cleaned... It had been cleaned, so I knew what I was studying was a cleaned or polished coin... This has worked wonders for me while browsing online or picking the swap meet. Hope this helps.

Erik

 

Seems strange that some can post a coin and it seems more than half that post will say its been cleaned.
But if someone makes a thread about how to tell if a coin has been cleaned theres not enough replies to fill
a page.
Maybe this says those that call a coin clean really dont know when a coin has been cleaned or not.
Iam sure a cleaned coin has lost some value but i collect coins for the fun of it and never see my coins as an investment.
I would own very few coins if i cherry picked coins for value.
But if you can afford the best then go for it.
We cant all drive the high price cars or live in the best homes but we can all own a part of history even if it has to look as old as it really is.
Happy coin hunting to all.
Its kinda like going to the bathroom we can all enjoy the feeling of the end results. The hole was filled and we can move on to the next coin we search for.

 

Heritage web site is a great place to learn and it's free.
The only down side is that you are learning from images and not able to hold it.

The more you study non problem coins the better you get at spotting problem coins.
When you see something with a different look it's time to slow down and wonder why it's different.

 

Go to a local shop and ask them to show you some cleaned coins. I like looking through all my dealers TPG rejects when they come back.....in fact, I like looking at his "problem" coins from NGC and PCGS more than his slabbed stuff. It's a very powerful learning tool.

I also recommend you take some regular circulated coins and clean them yourself using various methods. One thing I like to do is use a mini-torch I have on coins to see what the effect is.....plus it's fun! LOL

 

Heck, I've been doing that for years! It's a great learning tool!

PS: The only downside I found, since I started it, this is the third house I bought, the other two burned down.

 

Excellent advice. I find way too many collectors don't study coins any longer. Way too many are concerned with "deals", slab grades, etc. Slow down and enjoy your coins, study them from every angle. If you do, you are educating yourself how a real coin should look, and as such start to learn how to more easily see when something is wrong like its been harshly cleaned or is a fake.

As for detecting it from photos, you will be able to see the bad examples from photos but many cleaned coins you cannot tell unless its in hand. Anyone who tells you they can spot 100% of the time cleaned coins from photos, (unless very high quality ones like an auction house would do), is simply wrong. Always pay attention to return privileges, and look a coin over when you receive it to make sure.

 

See all that extra typing you've forced yourself to use by saying "harshly cleaned" Doug? Go ahead, save your fingers and use "cleaned" and "conserved".

 

Most cleaners don't clean between the cracks (Between letters, etc..) It will stand out from the rest of the coins. The coin should have an even color

 

I had a 34 nickel once someone had cleaned. <I coinstar'd it, or I would show it.> Looked to me like he had taken a Dremel brush tool to it. Everything all bright and shiny, except around the edges of everything (such as inside the lettering and the date) where the gray tarnish continued to lurk. It would withstand a casual inspection and you would almost say MS, at least until you looked close, said what the f***?, and got out your pocket magnifier glass.

Back in the 60s, cleaning coins to remove tarnish was expected. Many an old coin went into some Tarnex or similar solution. I had one collector school chum who Brasso'd old pennies. Times and rules change. If I can find the old school chum I will tell him his 1803 silver dollar should be destroyed because he ruined it by cleaning it. LOL.
Supposedly some of the chemical cleaning methods cause (in time) micro fissures all over the coin surfaces. Since these micro fissures are most often found on 100+ year old coins I am not so sure the cleaning fluids are the culprit. It is also possible the fissures were going to emerge anyway as metals do tend to crystallize over time. The Martensite vs Austenite vs Cementite phenomena has IMO allegories to some of the early coin metals. Copper will corrode. Copper in alloy will in time begin to separate out. No one alive today knows much about the conditions inside the plant where the silver was smelted for Morgan dollars or earlier silver coins. I think it is way premature to explain away all surface fissuring as evidence of chemical dip cleaning.

This is different from coins that were cleaned by acid dip. Often, even after a rinse, traces of acid may remain and continue to corrode out little pits. I have seen that happen. Little corrosion craters so the coin that was so bright and shiny a month ago now looks like it had small pox or acne. Presumably that will continue to worsen and the best thing to do with that coin is Coinstar it.

 

That is sometimes true on early date large cents and similar striations radiating toward the rims on worn dies is the rule, rather than the exception. There are no shortcuts to knowing the properties of the coin you are interested in. Production problems on old Cents have often confused novices (and TPGs) into thinking there is more wear or damage on some varieties than there actually is. I understand it is also true on silver, particularly on silver at branch mints at certain times.