today i bought a peace dollar from a local dealer and was notified that it was BU acording to the dealer but there are are a few hairline scratchs in some places does this mean it was cleaned?
It might be evidence of a cleaning. If you could post a photo of the coin, we could give you more advice.
Without pictures we cannot help you grade. But the term BU only means its uncirculated, unc. coins can still be scratched.
Sounds like it may have been whizzed. Are the coin's surfaces (obverse and reverse) entirely covered with extensive hairlines? It would be easier to judge by photos, as already mentioned. -Brian
The key part of your comment is - "according to the dealer". If - this dealer is honest and trustworthy then the comment can be taken at face value. Meaning no, the coin has not been harshly cleaned. Hairlines are fine light scratches, sometimes so light that you cannot even see them with the naked eye. hairlines are typically the result of the coin having been roughly handled at some point. It may have been slid across a pad as it was examined on a dealer's showcase. Or it may have slid around a bit in the tray of a coin cabinet, anything like that. But, there are also more than a few dealers out there who would make the exact same comment as what your dealer made. But the intent of the comment would be to mislead you into believing that the coin merely had a few hairlines when in fact it had been harshly cleaned. The concern is this - hairlines, and the scratches resulting from a harsh cleaning, look very much alike in many cases. But when a coin has been harshly cleaned there will typically be a whole lot more of those lines and they will often, but not always, cover most of the coin or at least a large portion of the coin. Whereas hairlines will not. What you have to do as a collector is learn to distinguish between the two when you look at a coin. It is little things like this that will help you determine if the dealer you are working with is being honest or not. And whether or not you should continue working with him.
