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Message:: [QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 97608, member: 112"]You can't always, but many times you can - it just takes experience. Take the coin in this thread - see how clean the surface looks in the smooth areas ? Do you also notice that the coin shows a lot of wear ? Now ask yourself - if the coin is 150 yrs old and has a lot of wear, meaning it has been heavily circulated -  is it likely that the fields will be clean ? Now look at the protected areas like in the denticles, around the letters, in the fine crevices of the devices - see how dark those areas are ? That's dirt accumulated over the years from circulation - it's quite normal. So what happened to the dirt that should be on the fields ? Answer - it was cleaned off. Look at your pocket change or go through a loose change jar - check the coins for dirt. After looking at a bunch you'll begin to see how the dirt is worn off the high points by the change being carried in your pocket or a purse - or even from rubbing against other coins in a cash register. But the dirt will largely remain on the smooth fields of the coin because they are low points. And it will accumulate in the small protected areas - they will be the dirtiest. You'll soon learn how much dirt should be on a coin and in what areas. Then when you go to buy a coin and it doesn't look like what you've come to expect - most of the time that's enough. But you should look at it closer and see if there are other signs of cleaning as well.[/QUOTE]