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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;IdesOfMarch01, post: 4084448, member: 39084&quot;]This definition of smoothing raises a lot of interesting issues, especially since the process of cleaning a coin may inadvertently or unintentionally remove original metal from the surface in addition to removing encrustations and other deposits.&nbsp; In this instance, I personally wouldn&#039;t be concerned about a coin that exhibited such smoothing.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, the process of eliminating pitting is a bit trickier.&nbsp; At the time the coin ceased circulating, it&#039;s unlikely that its surface exhibited any pitting other than scratches and gouges, since the striking process on a smooth flan would have resulted in smooth surfaces and circulation would have worn the surfaces and devices even smoother.&nbsp; So pitting on coins is most likely due to chemical processes that resulted from contact with soil and other coins/contaminants that etched the coin&#039;s surface and devices as it lay untouched for centuries.&nbsp; Since these pits weren&#039;t present when the coin ceased circulating, I don&#039;t necessarily think that smoothing such pitting disqualifies a coin from being collectible, although I will not collect overly smoothed coins even if done solely to remove pitting.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s a bit more of an issue if scratches have been smoothed since most scratches will have been created while the coin circulated and thus were present on its surface when it ceased circulating.&nbsp; Removing these scratches during the cleaning process might render the coin uncollectible for me, if it&#039;s apparent that&#039;s what was done to the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, using Curtis&#039;s definition of smoothing, my opinion is that the collectibility of a smoothed (but not tooled) coin would depend on in-hand inspection of the actual coin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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