Large Penny - Cleaned Or Just Extra Brilliant?

lots of parallel scratches, especially on OBV, I would go with cleaned.

personally I would take a natural VF20 over a cleaned EF40 but it really depends on the "cleaning" (any circulated coin 100+ years old has been rubbed with a towel or tshirt at least once)

guessing most serious collectors (MS coins) wouldn't touch a cleaned coin unless it was a rare variety

Yes this coin has been cleaned. It is also a worn coin. Much of the detail in the crown has been worn away. With that being said, it is still not a bad coin to have until you can upgrade.

Odd colour, odd patterned scratches (all going parallel, all going in circles) and residue in around the edges of the design. Even just wiping a high grade coin with a soft cloth leaves a scratch pattern that can be seen with a good loupe or microscope. I think all collectors care if a coin is cleaned or not. Some care to the point of tossing them in the garbage. Others only care if somebody tells them because they don't care enough to learn how to recognize them . Hard to guess as to how many fall where on the spectrum though. My rule of thumb is an automatic minimum 50% off for an impaired coin (cleaned, scratched, bent etc) and then adjust down from there depending on how it looks. If it's not a hard to find year or grade or variety I'll usually pass on it though as it is more hassle to deal with it down the road.

Cleaned for sure....But I personally like to look at a coin like this one, than one that's black. This is the type of coins I put in my collection.....mainly because the real nice uncleaned are out of my pay scale.