Coins That Have Been "Cleaned"

bcow527,

You could do this community a service by listing the slabbers and providing pictures of the coins if possible. It won't help you recoup your losses, but it may allow others to avoid the same predicament.

Sorry to hear...I would be surprised as well. As much as I dislike cleaned coins, I think it's rather sad how obsessed the TPGs have gotten about this. Certainly cleaned coins that have a damaged surface have lost value, but less intrusive cleaning has been "body bagged" as well. The truth is that many coins approaching the century mark (or younger) were cleaned in their past to varying degrees by well-meaning collectors. Now the TPGs are effectively stigmatizing any cleaned coin...does anybody else see a problem here?

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...imagine owning a classic Ferrari or Corvette and the value decreased because it was previously cleaned?

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Lol...right! Those cars are re-lacquered and re-upolstered to sell into the stratosphere (although original parts mean a lot). As for collectors of anything, they need to know what they're buying. I'm concerned that slabbing is becoming the defining mark of a quality coin, where the buyer/investor doesn't really need to know anything: close your eyes and buy that slab! Personally, I think that's a fallacy that will be disproven in time.

Hadley, I have no argument with your points. I am particularly averse to any cleaning that harms the original minted surface, MS or otherwise. I should elaborate further to state the cleaning I'm referring to is that which merely removes dirt without harming the coin's surface to any visible degree--other than possibly revealing underlying mint luster. Otherwise, I totally applaud that TPGs root out dishonest coins. I think the current high premiums over minute grading differences has contributed to this problem.

ICG has a bit of a different BB policy as well. If a coin is rejected, they list the reason for rejection and apply the grading fee toward a future submission, less $5 for handling fees.
http://www.icgcoin.com/Default.aspx?tabid=655

ANACS and NCS are the only two that will slab a problem coin though.

I personally do not have a problem with cleaned coins as it can be hard to avoid in some early series and I even have a few in my collection. I would never clean a coin but I do conservation work every once in a while. If the cleaning is done gently the eye appeal is not harmed too much especially if it has retoned in an album, kraft envelope or some other natural method. I just have a problem with the ones that someone scrubbed with steel wool, those are just plain ruined

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I am talking about fraud...I expected the grade to be lower, but not that three different grading companies would actually grade a cleaned coin

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That is the crux of the situation- most "third party grading companies" are not a company at all but some guy putting together CoinWorld slabs in his momma's basement and making the labels on an inkjet printer. That generally means that "slabbing" is someone's way of getting rid of their cleaned, altered, and damaged coins at higher-than-market prices. The only reputable companies that actually take public submissions are PCGS, NGC, ANACS, ICG, PCI(future uncertain at this time) and SEGS. I believe that ICCS would also fall into this category but they are for Canadian coins. Any other jumble of letters is a sham outfit. If the company does not do public submissions, have a physical street address(not a PO Box), or is not listed with the FTC and the BBB, then they are not a true TPG and since it is just a "guy in momma's basement", good luck on finding anyone to prosecute for fraud

I bought a coin that is lightly cleaned 1884 S Morgan looks to be a MS 63, really great price but I would never be able to tell it was cleaned by looking at it, how do you tell?

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I bought a coin that is lightly cleaned 1884 S Morgan looks to be a MS 63

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Welcome, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if it was cleaned the highest mint state grade a coin can achieve is MS60. I seriously doubt that your coin is even that high.

Why do I say that? 1884-S is what is known as a "conditional rarity" coin. An uncleaned, undamaged MS63 1884-S Morgan is a $30,000+ coin due to the fact that very few survive in AU-MS grades. Can you post a picture of it? I would be interested in seeing your coin but it is doubtful that it would grade very high at all, even a solid AU coin is worth hundreds of dollars.
With a picture, we could give you some indicators for the cleaning and give an estimated grade.