Which Of These Bust Dimes Would You Buy?

Wow, that 1835 dime is really nice. Great purchase, congrats on the addition to your type set.

Frankly, I have to believe there's something I'm not seeing here. The coin looks too egregiously harmed to get past them. They're not dummies.

Coins get in the ground and then picked up by passers-by all the time. Bet every one of you has picked up a dirty old Quarter off the ground; I know 25C is worth me bending over.

So the coin has an outdoor period when it gets all grubby. Somebody picks it up, spends it, and circulation wears off most of the crud. I could conceive of being able to tell the surface difference between that and a deliberately cleaned coin. Further, I know that light sufficiently bright for digital photography is capable of washing out the surfaces of circulated silver.

So there's a (low probability) scenario where I could see that coin get into a righteous slab. It would be worth the look.

There is a lesson to be learned here:
If a given coin raises suspicions, or questions, then it will continue to raise those same questions further down the road. In short:
"A problem coin will ALWAYS remain a problem coin."
And the converse:
"Today's 'WOW' coin, which stands out as uncommonly found so nice, will continue to "WOW" years from now."

A VG-8 example with unquestioned surfaces trumps a F-12 with, uh, questions.

This has been the hardest lesson for me to learn.
I wish that I learned it sooner.