I Am Ken Coin Novice Looking For Info On Avoiding Cleaned Coins

Slider, your comment confuses me. If it were blazing and showing wear....it's not showing any wear. I have seen ms63 versions of this on ebay. It's showing no wear at all. So I have seen what good coins look like.

If it looks good, it's been cleaned and thus worthless, cause it was dipped to cover up the wear. Except there is no wear. Look at standing liberties, even certfied AU ones you can't see her garment line or toes.

Just trying to see the logic here.

Silverdollar, in the second pictre it's behind plastic. Why would someone ruin a coin that had such good features then? So it's near worthless? I could return it I suppose.

Dull mirror like finish, not sure I see that. I have some graded Mercury dimes, it looks similar.

Dipping a coin does not remove or cover up wear in fact dipping shows more wear and hairlines. Toning can hide wear or cleaning. If your coin was over dipped, it could cause the coin to have a dull finish with little or no luster that could get it a details cleaned grade.

Unfortunately, I don't have a great camera, plus the lighting isn't that great. I couldn't do the coin justice, don't think.

I wrote the seller, he said he's more than willing to take it back for a full refund, thinks he could get a higher price than what he sold it to me for. Also said he can't guarantee it hasn't been cleaned but in his experience, it's a great coin with good luster. Of course, he's biased, but he's also willing to take the coin back, as is his stated policy. I guess if it's that hard to properly judge, than coin collecting is not a smart hobby.

It's strange though, I have a 39 mercury that is MS65 graded slab and it's clear blinding white, no toning at all. So I guess that must have been dipped too and is worthless.

Who graded the slabbed dime? If it was one of the major graders, they'd have noted "improperly cleaned" if it had been dipped and not given it a numeric grade. There are coins that survive the years in their original blast white color so that's not really all that unusual. If it's a no-name grading service, they could've easily missed any cleaning.

As to why someone would ruin a coin with such good features, a lot of people will take better AU coins, polish them, and call them BU. For some coins this generates a substantial markup in price.

Can you post a picture that's at least twice the dimensions and show the reverse as well?

Check if the Upload Image window has popped up by minimizing the window. Is there an Upload box behind the window?




Do not assume any coins that are not toned have been dipped and are worthless. If the coin is graded by PCGS, NGC, ANACS, or ICG, it most likely is just white in color from being stored for many years.

A coin can either be white in color from being dipped, or being stored properly. Many, many coins are white in color and have not been dipped - I have many coins like that. The difference, however, is in the luster of the coin. A dipped coin will have a uniform shine throughout the surfaces, while a coin that hasn't been cleaned will have varying luster as you turn the coin around - called "cartwheel luster."

Please do not make any rash decisions until we see larger, clear pictures of the coins.

now that I think about that picture...it looks yellow there, like wood. In real life it's silvery...not sure what that means. Looking like wood in the photo doesn't look good though.

Here's another one. What do you think?