What makes you say it is harshly cleaned? What would you say is the difference between VG, F, or VF20?
I agree as well. It could be the pic, but what is reinforcing the opinion to me is the deep black in the crevices. My suspicion is this coin was toned matte black, and then cleaned to remove the bad toning. It might not have been the cleaning that led to the impaired surfaces. The black toning could have damaged the surfaces already.
I wouldn't say. You really should buy a grading book. To describe in words the different grades for you would not help
I'm not sure I agree. I've come across plenty of examples where photographic images of the grades are hard to distinguish, but the text description calls attention to the important differences. Here's a page with good text descriptions and reasonable photos. It bugs me to point people to about.com instead of a primary reference, but the information on this particular page seems fairly solid. Here's a page with text descriptions, although they're a bit terse. The linked photos reinforce my point above; different grades are lit differently, and unless you already know what you're looking for, they're not very useful. This discussion is interesting, although it doesn't give you the information you're looking for. It does point out a major flaw in the published ANA grading standards for SLQs (not distinguishing the way dates wear on T2 vs T3 SLQs). Finally, if you're determined to go by pictures alone, here's the PCGS Photograde page you need. At least Photograde has separate series for T1, T2 and T3 (I linked to T3), and their lighting seems consistent.
These pics are better using a different scanner setting. Depending on the coin, using my better scanner or changing the setting on my all-in-one makes a difference. I am looking at the differences between VG-VF on this coin but can see it can be pretty subjective on this. I thought it was at least F. As far as black spots, there can be different reasons for this. This one was in a old 2x2 with a tear in it.
Based on the newer scan, and comparing to the images I've seen, it looks like F-VF to me. Of course, I'm no expert on the series. It's not a high-value coin in any case, but it's certainly generated an interesting discussion. Looking back, it seems like the first photos have their contrast stretched to make dark areas appear darker -- I'm looking specifically at the shadow the coin casts to the right on the background. That can definitely make the coin look worse.
Yeh, I don't know what was up with the first pics. I noticed they didn't even reflect what the coin looked in hand. Could have just been the scanner settings. Here is the reverse retaken.
