Grading/Cleaned Coins Question

I recently received a coin, and to be honest it was a good buy. I have looked over it and it seems to be graded properly, but I wonder if it could be cleaned? What are some ways to tell if a coin has been cleaned?? I could post a pic of the coin if that would help???

Thanks

 

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Post a picture...that will help us determine that.

Generally cleaning coins impairs the luster, it will have a different luster. Overall the coin just looks 'shiny'. It may also have hairlines, caused from the cleaning. You can see these, tilt the coin under a light (about 45 degrees) and rotate the coin under the light to see the hairlines. Other than that, it just takes experience.

There's a few different type of cleanings:
Whizzed, this is where someone polishes the coin with a dremal tool, it makes a 'whiz' sound almost like a dentist drill, hence the name. Some can be very deceptive, but its an dying process.
It could be polished, when this happens sometimes the fields of the coin look reflective.
It could simply be dipped, where someone dips it in a solution such as jewerly toner cleaning (EZest), if done right it's hard to detect but you can improperly dip them too
It could be simply wiped with a cloth, this may cause hairlines.
Be very careful when taking the coin in and out of a flip, this may cause 'flip rub' or hairlines on the coin. Stay away from the flexible flips, these have PVC and may damage the coin. The hard ones however, without PVC, you must be careful when taking the coin out.

Hope this helps

 

Thanks!

Here is a pic of the coin. Let me know what you think???

 

I knew I would find it around me somewhere, here's a thread I made on cleaned coins:
http://www.cointalk.com/t66255/

 

Hmm, this one is hard. It's hard to tell from the photo's...

But I see what appears on the bust of washington is a different color on the outline...this may have been from that the area was protected if/when it was cleaned.

It doesn't look cleaned to me though.

Don't take my word though, wait a little bit and maybe someone else can give their opinion.

 

Thanks so much! I feel better. What do you mean about the different color on the outline??

 

Sometimes when coins are cleaned, the protected areas of the coin do not get polished. Look at the hair on the back of washington's head...or tilt the coin under the light and see if you can see fine lines going in one direction, that indicates its been cleaned. Sometimes a coin that was made semi prooflike orginally, can look cleaned because of this, but it's not. I'm guessing that your coin isn't cleaned but I'm not sure. Someone else will have to look at it..the obverse seems to be toned slightly, if it was cleaned that wouldn't be there unless it retoned.

 

Again my thanks!

Thanks for sending me that information. Have one more photo for you. This is a 1932 S on E-bay and it is underpriced--and I see that color change you mentioned, so let me know what you think.

Thanks again

 

Yes, now that one, definitely looks cleaned. Notice how 'shiny' it looks.

 

Wow, that is a really great thread, Kevin (the one about cleaning).

To elaborate a little bit further, here is one I wrote about luster. Make sure you read more than just my original post, as the discussion evolved we talked a good bit about cleaned coins and how that affects their luster: http://www.cointalk.com/t58435/

 

There is a factor missing here and that is the price. Many times I've purchased cleaned, polished, etc types of coins due to the prices being excessively low. Coins, such as the 32D or 32S, with mintages of less than a half million, may well be worth purchasing if the prices are low enough due to such cleaning. Polishing coins are really difficult to tone down but cleaned coins left on a kitchen window for a few months makes the coin appear a bit normal looking again.
If you think about the ever growing population of people on Earth and the amount of them as coin collectors, any coin with such low mintages may not be available in any condition soon enough.
Example the population of the USA alone has exceeded 300,000,000 so imagine if only a fraction are coin collectors and each one wants that coin.

 

Yea a pic would definitely help..

 

Doug on the first coin are you talking about the lines on the neck , they're the only thing I can tell by these pics that it was cleaned , any more help would be appreciated .
rzage

 

berry berry ineteresting. I tell ya, I'm just a small time collector right now and have not gone after any super duper purchases yet. Not knowing all of this would scare me form spending a lot of money unless the coin was certified, which I guess is always the safest thing to do. Up to now I have been going after commons and semi's just to fill up the holes in my collection. At some point I will start going after the keys.

In any case I sure appreciate all the input this community gives. It seems like a very civilized group.

 

Besure that the grading is done by a reputable company on those key dates. Here's a prime example of why:

1892-S Morgan (eBay item, graded MS66, obvious harsh cleaning job)

The bids are already outrageous in my opinion.

 

Thanks for pointing out what you are looking at. It helps to improve my skill at detecting a cleaning.

 

The first thing I noticed were the vertical parallel lines on the neck that to me indicated an abrasive cleaning. Doug's enlargements helped me see the horizontal lines on the jaw. Many raw key date coins on eBay have been cleaned (assuming they are genuine to begin with... always something to be concerned about, especially a 32-d Washie), even non-keys just because it was the thing to do to your coins until the last half century. It can be very hard to spot in photos, too, for instance this Barber, which I can assure you is a cleaned coin: