So I believed that the coins like outer coins were cleaned and was not planning on keeping them for my collection. I have been opting for a more even patina such as the center coin. What clues should I look for to identify uncleaned shiny coins? The 1984 coin has tiny brush lines going in uniform direction such as I would expect to see from a bush.
The '80, '81, and '86 are actually the nicest coins of the bunch, with the '86 being the nicest of them all. At least based on your pictures. And the '84, those lines are not from a harsh cleaning. They appear to be roller marks from when the planchet was made. A few things to remember - shiny is not always a good thing. Shiny can be a very good thing. Shiny does not always equal harshly cleaned, but it can equal harshly cleaned. Beginning to see the problem ? Shiny isn't the issue, it isn't what matters. What matters is what is causing the coin to be shiny. When shiny is caused by luster, that's a good thing, sometimes a very good thing. When shiny is caused by a harsh cleaning, or polishing, that's a very bad thing. So what you have to do is learn how to identify one from the other. Doing that takes a bit of study and the gaining of experience. And you can do both by continuing to ask questions and posting pictures. Reading a few books will also help immensely.
Almost certain none of those coins have been cleaned. What would be the point? In any form, they're all worth exactly one U.S. cent.
Quite often that has absolutely nothing to do with it. In a great many cases coins are harshly cleaned merely because their owners want them to "look better". Even when they are only worth 1 cent.
True, generally speaking. But the OP appears to be collecting common Lincoln cents from circulation, so as a practical matter of advice to him, I'd suggest he not expend undue worry over getting cleaned coins in this particular pursuit. It's infinitely more likely that the color and luster of the coins he encounters will be determined by age, handling and environmental factors than by cleaning.
At any rate, I now have a possible example of a planchet roll and uncleaned coins to compare others to. So thanks
