Conserved Or Cleaned? Which Is It? (1893 Commemorative Columbian Half Dollar)

Personally, I think it lost considerable luster, especially on the reverse. The original blotchy toning wasn't very attractive, but now it just looks overdipped.

Conserved by who? Looks cleaned to me.

Sadly, I'm in the cleaned side as well. Already looked like it had a previous dipping/cleaning in the first one, second pics look over dipped.

Tomato...Tamato

common coin, get one that you like unmolested with.

PCGS, for example, defines "cleaning" in terms of abrasive cleaning, and clarifies that dipping is not cleaning. In contrast, "damage" includes "attempts to remove spots, etc." That "etc." is a broad category.

In a nutshell, "dipping" won't detail a coin, but overdipping will. The pics of the Columbian Half suggest a lack of luster in the second set of photos. That could be lighting and camera angle, or could accurately depict an overdipped coin. IMHO, a beautiful slider > an ugly UNC > a detailed UNC.

The post-dipped coin may have as much shine and brightness as before, but there's no question that it lost some luster, probably from spending too much time in the dip. Good technique is one aspect of dipping a coin, but just as important is finding the right coin that would benefit from a dip to remove unattractive toning. Your coin had heavy, terminal toning with some underlying corrosion, and a brief dip wouldn't be enough to remove it. So by removing the toning with an extended dip, the rest of the coin got overdipped and lost luster. A TPG service probably would have said it wasn't a candidate for conservation.

I have sent in a AU58 Morgan silver dollar to PCGS for conservation of some black terminal toning. The coin after conservation, came back AU58 with the black terminal toning removed, but the black toning had etched the surface where it was removed. All PCGS had done is dip the coin in an acid something like eZest and called it conservation.

Your coin was dipped in an acid to remove the toning. Look at the stars left and right of the date, the removed black toning etched the surface of the coin. The same thing happened around the number 14 as the surface is etched from the removed toning.

If a MS or AU with luster is dipped correctly, the TPG will still give the coin a straight grade. If a circulated coin below AU is dipped and sent in for grading, it has a strong chance of being graded improperly cleaned.

My guess it that you sent in the coin for conversation and grading and PCGS tagged the coin details improperly cleaned because it is obvious that the coin was dipped.