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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 2132614, member: 27832&quot;]This seems to reflect confusion about TPG terminology. &quot;Improper cleaning&quot; and &quot;cleaning&quot; are pretty much synonymous.</p><p><br /></p><p>If a coin is only &quot;properly cleaned&quot;, the TPG will just give it a numeric grade; they won&#039;t mark it as &quot;details&quot;, &quot;cleaned&quot;, or whatever.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you crack out a coin that&#039;s marked &quot;improperly cleaned&quot;, do something to it, resubmit it, and get it marked &quot;cleaned&quot;, that doesn&#039;t mean that you&#039;ve undone the previous damage. It just means that they&#039;ve classified the coin&#039;s damage in a different way.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Proper cleaning&quot;, from the numismatic perspective, is cleaning that <b>does not affect the coin&#039;s metallic surface</b>. But that surface is delicate. Even friction from a soft rag can damage it. Once that damage is done, it can&#039;t be undone.</p><p><br /></p><p>You seem to dismiss the importance of scratches you can&#039;t see. If I wipe the field of a proof or uncirculated coin, I won&#039;t see scratches, but I&#039;ll see a distinct change in the way light reflects from the coin -- its <i>luster</i>. That change makes it easy to see that the coin has been <i>improperly</i> cleaned.</p><p><br /></p><p>You have a different perspective on all this, coming from an archaeology background, and that different perspective is valuable; I&#039;d like to learn more from you. But also keep in mind that the community here includes chemists and metallurgists, as well as numismatic experts. You can learn from them as well, if you&#039;re interested.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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