Teach me - how to tell if its been cleaned?...

Wow! Thank you for the great lessons and offering examples from your personal collection as well as your stories about your personal experiences. I do feel much more empowered to at least to know the types of things to look for even if my eye isn't as calibrated and precise as yours. But, I guess it will come with time

 

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Old tread, but I thought I'd add this coin as a bad whiz job that looks good at a distance, but terrible close up. At today's silver spot, this coin is around $30 melt. It looks like a nice coin until you zoom in. I wanted to post this because this coin is about to sell on eBay and the bid is up to $70 now with 15min left. What a shame, but on the plus side, there are circulated Franklin's with probably more silver weight to them than this one, and they are selling for half the price. Regards, Mike.

 

Why do you say this coin has been whizzed? What signs do you see?

 

It really stands out to me that the obverse rims, below the eye, cheek, and chin all have signs of altered surfaces. On the reverse I see altered surfaces on the rim, and sides of the bell. Now I may not have identified these altered surfaces as true whizzing, it does seem like these are altered surfaces as maybe being wire brushed. I have never seen a Franklin Half Dollar with these unusual looking surfaces before. If I am wrong, please enlighten me; I always look forward to learning. I do still have a little room left upstairs. Regards, Mike.

 

Here's one bought raw a few years ago. Sent it in for grading knowing it would come back Cleaned.

Note the cleaning lines, more than hairlines, in the obverse and reverse fields and the general lack of luster - a lackluster coin.

 

The areas you point out are unusual, yes. However, these are perfectly natural signs of an old, overused die. Your coin has not been cleaned or treated in any way. This look is actually very common on Franklins, and especially S mint coins. Here is mine for comparison, with a very similar appearance:

 

I'm not sure if it's been whizzed, but it certainly doesn't look natural. It has a very flat look to it, not lustrous.