Is this what a whizzed coin looks like?

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by NSP, Aug 18, 2015.

  1. NSP

    NSP Well-Known Member

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  3. Patrick King

    Patrick King Well-Known Member

  4. Paul M.

    Paul M. Well-Known Member

    Looks like it. It's definitely either whizzed or polished.
     
    jello likes this.
  5. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    Yes, it's been altered from it's original state via cleaning.
     
    USS656 likes this.
  6. dfraser

    dfraser Junior Member

    I don't see any sings of whizzing, but definite cleaning and polishing.
     
    Kirkuleez and JPeace$ like this.
  7. kanga

    kanga 65 Year Collector

    And not slabbed.
     
  8. NSP

    NSP Well-Known Member

    It's a shame someone did that to the coin. It could've been pretty nice looking before.
     
  9. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    @NSP

    As @dfraser said, there are no signs of whizzing. If it had been whizzed, you would see polishing lines all over the surfaces.

    Chris
     
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  10. Bedford

    Bedford Lackey For Coin Junkies

    This is a whizzed coin.

    099-105-IMG_9039.JPG 100-106-IMG_9040.JPG
     
  11. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Whizzed, and or whizzing is another one of those terms where its definition has become corrupted, changed, altered, (pick your word) to mean all kinds of things, depending on who is using it at the time.

    Originally whizzed had one and only one meaning, it was used to describe a coin the surfaces of which had been altered by someone using a wire-wheel brush device, typically on the fields only, resulting in a series of very fine lines/scratches that covered the coin. This was done in an effort the simulate the look of luster in order to make a person viewing the coin think it was higher grade than it really was.

    A whizzed coin had several diagnostics that were easily seen by experienced eyes. Most would see it at a glance because they have a very distinctive look. But closer inspection would reveal pushed up metal at edges of the devices and legends - a result of the grinding done by the wire-wheel brush.

    But today, whizzed is often used to describe coins that have had any of a number of things done to them to alter the surfaces of the coin. And it can be either the entire coin or just the fields. Polished coins for example are often said to have been whizzed, when they were never whizzed at all. A polished coin has an entirely different look than a whizzed coin. But, people seem to insist on bastardizing the definitions of words and so it has become what it is, with few aware of the differences.

    Suffice it to say that in the end whizzed is used, even if incorrectly, to describe a coin with altered surfaces. And any coin with altered surfaces, regardless of the method used to alter those surfaces, is just as bad as any other. And all of them are problem coins.
     
  12. NSP

    NSP Well-Known Member

    The reason why I was thinking whizzed was because there appear to be parallel lines by the second A in America.
     
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  13. David Setree Rare Coins

    David Setree Rare Coins Well-Known Member

    Looks whizzed to me. Whizzing moves metal around on the surface of the coin and the near total lack of marks indicates (to me) that is what happened here.
     
    Coinchemistry 2012 likes this.
  14. messydesk

    messydesk Well-Known Member

    I'd call it a whizzed coin. It has been harshly and abrasively processed to impart artificial flow lines and simulate a luster it didn't have before being destroyed. Gross.
     
    mac266 likes this.
  15. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Well that's kind of the problem, there are all kinds of things that can cause parallel lines on a coin. Using a brush, of any kind, it can be a small paint brush, an artist's brush, a small cleaning brush, literally any brush, on the surface of a coin can cause parallel lines on the surface of that coin. The same with using a cloth or even the tip of your finger to try and wipe a spot or a bit of debris off a coin can cause parallel lines. Laying the coin down on almost any surface can do it, same with picking one back up. Basically any movement of anything across the surface of a coin can cause parallel lines on that coin. But yet none of those things have anything at all to do with whizzing.
     
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  16. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    The seller states, albeit in smaller print:
    I purchased this coin in 1978 at the Long Beach Coin Show.
    Please check out my other listings of RARE COINS!

    Coin has been cleaned over 35 years ago.
     
  17. messydesk

    messydesk Well-Known Member

    So it's unclear whether he bought it that way or did it himself. Either way, a whack upside the head is in order.
     
    fish4uinmd likes this.
  18. Paul M.

    Paul M. Well-Known Member

    This coin @Bedfor posted is definitely whizzed. You can tell by the scalloped, finger-print-y pattern in the right obverse field. The eBay coin's surfaces is what this wheatie probably looks like from a few inches distance in relatively diffuse light.
     
  19. Silverino

    Silverino Well-Known Member

  20. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    Lighten up Silverino...man said "I'm always happy to learn"
     
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  21. NSP

    NSP Well-Known Member

    Yeah, no way I'd buy that thing, but everything can be made into a learning experience.
     
    Silverino likes this.
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