2 1857 seated liberty h10s 1 is VF20.. nice clean coin, the other is AU details (improperly cleaned) price is within $10 of each other, both are PCGS slabbed... VF AU details cleaned
On this one, I believe I would go with the VF coin. I normally don’t have much issue with old cleanings but that one appears to have been scrubbed pretty harshly. The scratches are too distracting.
Pick the straight-graded coin. You will never regret it whereas it is likely you will regret that harshly-cleaned coin every time you look at it or think about it.
I'm in the same camp. I built my Dansco type set album with plenty of details coins. Still, when seeing these two photos, I agree with Randy that the AU details seems harshly scrubbed and thus distracting. There are different levels of cleaned and this coin seems to be on the less attractive end (I could change my mind with a different photo/angle but I'm sticking with the VF based on the given photos).
still doing some hunting but I think i agree that the VF20 is the better choice, just wanted to make sure my head was on straight
Definitely the VF. It looks better, and it will not be a problem coin if you ever want to sell it. Just my humble opinion.