I sent 11 coins to PCGS for grading and to my disappointment five came back as "cleaned." I purposely selected coins listed as "prachtexemplar" (roughly translates to beautiful specimen) on Kuenker, which they only do for a handful of listings. They have a pedigree from the Lodewijk Beuth collection, arguably the best collection of Dutch coins ever along with the Coenen collection, and a paper trail of a century of sales and pedigrees by Schulman and other reputable European auctioneers. For the life of me I didn't see any sign of cleaning, rubbing, dipping, hairlines, or other alterations to the coins in the photos or when I held them in hand, nor did the previous auctioneers. What is up with the grading standards here? I'll keep these coins raw, but it just bothers me that coins that are considered amongst the finest specimens on the European market are decided to be "cleaned" here. Thoughts? Has anyone experienced the same? Can anyone point out what I'm missing in these images?
Their beautiful specimen's and the "cleaning" doesn't really bother me. It's obvious that the fields on the obverse of each coin was cleaned leaving darker toning around the legends and portraits. You can try rubbing your "clean" fingers in those areas every day for a month or two and the toning should return in a year or so. Best to use the edge of your thumb so you don't leave finger prints.
I'm going to have to get better at identifying cleaning. I couldn't see any hair lines which is usually a tell-tale sign.
As @-monolith- pointed out, the clean fields with dark toning around the devices and the denticles is a good indicator of cleaning. I am not trying to hold myself out as an expert at finding cleaned coins, but that is a sign that always makes me look harder at the coin. That said, those are some amazing coins!! Cleaned or not they would be very welcome (although very out of place) among the dreck in my collection... If I may, can I pose a quick question for the world coin collectors out there? I know among older US coins an older cleaning is actually pretty common. Is that true for world coins as well?
You asked what was missing, and it is a label from various companies and well known grading companies. Most people who want their coins graded want them done by the higher respected companies as they then can asked for same or higher value when they wish to sell. A ungraded coin is at the mercy of the offers. The average person will usually get less than the various grading guides. To get attention for the coin in the US is to have it graded by the company and maybe :beaned: or seen in a picture in numismatic magazines. If you like a coin, keep it, protect it, and enjoy it. IMO, Jim
Cleaned doesn't always mean that the coin was rubbed, or shows hairlines, etc etc.A coin that has been dipped to remove unsightly toning can come back as cleaned, the dipping will remove original luster, not saying your coins are dull. But loss of luster will always be a red flag to a modern type grader at the TPG's.
From what I have read and seen, in Europe they don't worry as much about cleaning as they do in the US. A coin with a good strike, sharp details, and otherwise nice is still valued highly even if it is cleaned (unlike here where the cleaned grade from PCGS/NGC can significantly lower the value and perception of the coin).
NGC is the leading service for foreign and ancient coins. You might try them. I think that these coins do show signs of cleaning. Is it “market acceptable? Only the grading services can say as long as you submit to their opinions.
