There are a lot "rate my coin" posts. I learn alot from them, but I a have question. If a well worn coin has a high luster wouldn't that often imply it's been cleaned? I get there are other things to look at. Thanks.
Just because a coin looks shiny or reflects light that does not mean that the coin has even 1 speck of luster on it. Many people make this mistake because they don't understand what luster is, what it truly looks like on a given coin, or how much of it, if any, there should be on a given coin, depending on the grade of that coin. It is also very important to understand that every different series of coins has a different kind of luster. None of them are the same. edit -read everything you can find at the link posted by ikandiggit. You'll be better off for it.
Great link and definitely worth a second look. Was that (original post) really three years ago? Danged if time won't slow down........
For a while I would look for XF coins with some luster, as the prices were so reasonable compared with the enjoyment of looking at them. Morgans, Walkers, Jeffersons...finding that luster is a joy.
That was an excellent link. I was equating luster to "shiny". So we're saying they're two different things? Perhaps my original question should have been if a low grade coin is shiny is that strong evidence that it's been cleaned? Thanks.
The presence of luster is linked to the presence of flow lines from the original minting process. These lines are extremely fine to begin with, so any amount of appreciable circulation will damage the lines and disorganize (reduce) the luster. Further circulation will destroy the flow lines all together and take away all luster. In general, it would be mighty tough to have a coin show luster that is below Ch VF and many coins above this grade do not show obvious luster. I have one Draped Bust half dollar, an 1805 in Ch VF, that has true luster around the stars on the obverse and clinging to a few other areas where there are raised devices. However, this retained luster is due to the fact that there is original circulation grime, dirt and debris stuck to the surface of the coin that protected these slow lines. The luster is not obvious and it is beneath this protective layer, but it manages to peek out from the edges of the crud. Most would not recognize this coin as having any luster whatsoever because they would not know what to look for. A cleaned or polished coin will have high reflectivity, but this is not luster and many folks do not distinguish between the two with great success. Buffing, cleaning and polishing will obliterate flow lines and impart a mirror-like surface that is not the same as true luster.
I agree with everything said! "Shiny" - no luster present via a bad cleaning: Big Luster via the Mint I also wanted to mention that sometimes booming luster is a by-product of a worn die. The "orange peel" effect will produce major luster. So a lower MS coin could have more luster then it's higher graded peers in some cases.
That is a common misconception. The coins that have the best, highest quality luster, are those struck with the freshest, newest dies. There is a caveat however, that is assuming the coins have an equal quality of strike. And that all other things are equal. Example - a coin that is weakly struck, even though it was struck with fresh dies, can have less or a lower quality of luster than a coin that is well struck with worn dies. No, it doesn't. It can however produce that illusion. It is not the same by any means, but orange peel can increase reflectivity kind of like polishing a coin increases reflectivity. When all other things are equal a worn die can never produce the same quality of luster as a fresh set of dies. That is true. But not for the reasons you mentioned above. As Tom B said, there is one and only one thing that produces luster - the flowing of the metal. And in order for the luster to be of the highest quality there must be uniformity in the flow lines. And you get the best and most consistent uniformity of the flow lines from fresh dies. Worn dies will interrupt that uniformity and thus reduce the quality of the luster.
