How can you tell if a coin has been "cleaned"? I was just wondering if there are certain "things" to look for on a coin to know that it has been cleaned. Also, will the TPGs grade a coin if they discover that it has been cleaned? Or will the TPGs just make the designation that the coin has been "cleaned"? Thanks. swick
It all depends. The original luster will be missing on most if not all cleaned coins, but it all depends on how it was cleaned. Grading companies sometimes will not grade a coin if it is to harshly cleaned. But sometimes they will. Here is a thread about it already. What made this question occur? Just curious. Phoenix
Phoenix, I was looking at some Morgan Dollars on E-Bay, and some of the seller's descriptions of the Morgan Dollars they had for sale were "interesting" to say the least. Looking at the coins, some of them seemed a little to "shiny",or too "bright", if you know what I mean. I have no idea what a "cleaned" coin looks like.....unless I would see one side-by-side with a coin that hasn't been cleaned, and maybe not even then. Sorry about posting this question again. I guess I should look through the POSTS that are already here before posting a new thread.
If you see a coin where you can't read the legend because of wear but it has full lustre.......beware ! Cleaning is evident....
It isn't easy to tell if a coin as been cleaned -- at least it isn't for me. However, I'm getting better at it. One thing that helped was to get a few new uncirculated quarters, dimes and cents and clean them in a variety of ways. Also clean a few older dirty worn coins. Then compare them to an uncleaned coin and you will begin to notice "the look."
I look upon trying to detect altered, cleaned or damaged coins as a challange. Look at as many TPG graded coins as possible (in person), especially anacs which will still slab a problem coin. pcgs and ngc will slab a cleaned rare date coin, so be careful. In time, you will be able to detect 9 out of 10 at first glance.
I can usually tell if a coin has been cleaned, more so if I have the coin in hand than a picture. I went to the mall today to visit Sears and found there was a baseball card show there...so...looking around I found this lonely dealer with some coins for sale. So I start looking through his Morgans, I picked out an 1878-s and looked at it...it was marked $19. It was worn alot, especially the hair was flat. The finish looked funny to me so I said to the guy as I was handing it back to him, "this coin has been cleaned, hasnt it". His reply " a long time ago, but its starting to tone over and years from now nobody will know, for $19 dollars who cares". Well, I know and I care. I just looked at him, shook my head and walked away. I'll wait for the next real coin show.
