1936-S Bay Bridge Half Dollar: What do you think of this specimen?

I have my opinion of this coin but want to see what the rest of the CoinTalk viewership thinks with regard this specimen.

 

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Looks like it has a little cleaning by the side of the bear

 

I say yes it has .

 

I voted yes, it looks overdipped to me

 

Wiped, rather harshly too.

 

I don't think it's been cleaned but like Mike mentioned above, I don't have the benefit of having the coin in hand. Those marks could be on the holder.

 

My first impression is that there are die polish lines on the obverse fields with scattered light handling marks on the bear and an original reverse. It looks like a problem-free coin if that interpretation is correct.

 

Well this is the coin and the grade NGC gave it. It is up for sale on Ebay now (not my coin). I'm honestly baffled by this one and how it passed as gradable. It seems almost hard to believe how one side of the coin had tarnished so evenly throughout and the other hardly any but a handful of pin dot spots on the bear. The way this coin toned comparing both sides just doesn't look believable to me and that fact that NGC graded this MS-64 makes me suspicious of anything new graded by them. I notice that none of the grading services today seem to grade Bay Bridge Half Dollars properly. It seems they're overgraded or they don't know how to spot cleaned coins well enough for this series. From past experience I've learned that the first place to check if a cleaning has occurred on this coin is to check the bear. People love this coin, especially the bear and if an area was to get tarnished on this coin, the first place people would want to see "made clean" on this coin would be the part that has the bear design. Any thoughts? I'd be glad to read them and hopefully learn something.

 

The asymmetrical toning does not bother me in the least. It was likely in a specific holder for quite a while that caused the toning on one side.

 

If anyone has $165 to spare to examine the coin in hand I'd be curious to read what the deal really is with this odd specimen. Must be honest though, I wouldn't want a coin with this ugly spotting in my collection. Even if it was a natural specimen and uncirculated (which it is not in my opinion) it shouldn't grade better than MS-60 because it's fugly with those hits, spots and unflattering toning!

 

The reverse toning I've seen before , what threw me was what looked like a washed out over dipped lusterless coin . But the second pic seems to show some luster , so I'm going with bad pics on a coin I wouldn't buy for my collection . Good thread though !!!!!