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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 8062547, member: 19463&quot;]The used car comparison is good.&nbsp; People won&#039;t buy a car full of water and seaweed after a flood but can be fooled into thinking a restored wreck is a good buy.&nbsp; People with money don&#039;t buy piles of rubble that once was a statue so they are restored.&nbsp; Poor people don&#039;t pay admission to museums to see those piles either.&nbsp; The difference is that there are a few (relatively speaking) coins that do not need extensive restoration so we can be selective about things like this.&nbsp; I do wonder how long it will be until the big money in coins will prefer restored to mint state over original fine.&nbsp; Some people feel that way now but it is not yet the majority opinion.&nbsp; I doubt I will live to see that changeover but I suspect our grandchildren will. </p><p><br /></p><p>My definition of smoothing is localized manipulation of materials that were not on the coin when it left the mint.&nbsp; Tooling is the localized manipulation of materials that were part of the original coin.&nbsp; Cleaning is less selective (more general overall) than either of these and more people now engage in cleaning methods that remove the original metal surface (chemically or with electrolysis) that used to be fashionable.&nbsp;&nbsp; We each will have to decide on which step is tolerable and which is a deal breaker.&nbsp; How do you feel about carrying an ancient coin in your pocket to impart a naturally circulated look?&nbsp; Is rubbing a coin on a brick so you can read the legend better than willful smoothing with intent of making the coin look better?&nbsp; Would you rather have a great fake (British Museum electrotype, for example) or a pitiful scrap of &#039;original&#039; metal that is hardly identifiable.&nbsp; The answers to these and a hundred other questions are not unanimous.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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