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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Tom B, post: 1490695, member: 11854&quot;]The presence of luster is linked to the presence of flow lines from the original minting process.&nbsp; These lines are extremely fine to begin with, so any amount of appreciable circulation will damage the lines and disorganize (reduce) the luster.&nbsp; Further circulation will destroy the flow lines all together and take away all luster.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; The luster is not obvious and it is beneath this protective layer, but it manages to peek out from the edges of the crud.&nbsp; Most would not recognize this coin as having any luster whatsoever because they would not know what to look for.</p><p><br /></p><p>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.&nbsp; Buffing, cleaning and polishing will obliterate flow lines and impart a mirror-like surface that is not the same as true luster.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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