Which Version Of This 1919 Quarter Holds More Value?

Is this a trick question?

This has to be a joke, there's only 1 logical answer.

Your debate opponent is apparently some sort of purist nut job peering in at the hobby through a distorted lens. I'd love to talk to him directly.

There are some within the archaeological community that believe a coin found in the ground in an archaeological context should be cleaned up to the point where it can properly identified and dated - at which point further cleaning efforts should cease. For ancient coins, especially bronzes, this makes some kind of sense; an ancient bronze coin's patina is several millimetres thick, and the boundary between "surrounding dirt" and "original coin surface" is not obvious at all. Any form of "cleaning" such a coin risks damaging it, and risks replacing "actual original surface" with "artist's reconstruction". Under such conditions, one can see the logic that perhaps it's better for the coin to remain crusty, and either await a future, better restoration technique or to be content with advanced imaging technology to "see" the coin underneath the dirt without having to remove it.

Of course, to an archaeologist, a coin's "value" is completely and utterly non-monetary; it's value lies entirely in the archaeological context, the information the coin can contribute to the archaeological layer it was buried in, not in the amount of money it can be sold for.

All of which is quite moot discussion for an American silver coin that's been sitting in the ground in America for less than 100 years; that dirt's just dirt and archaeologists should by all reason have zero interest in them since they have zero interest in things that are that young. But archaeologists like to argue with metal detectorists, since they really don't like them anyway.

I see your point however I think marketability has to also be taken into consideration. If you threw both versions of the coin up on ebay and the slab had the details grade, I'm inclined to believe the interest/purchase of the details slab would far exceed the dirty coin.

EDIT TO ADD: eg - there is no market for the dirty version

The Seated Liberty dollar (with Motto) in my 7070 was freed from a "cleaned-detail" slab. I passed up several, much cheaper examples that looked like the pre-conserved quarter above.

Not shovel marks Earl, just minor abrasions in the skin. Confident further conservation would have eliminated but ran the risk of a details-cleaned grade if I pursued. Likely from me placing in mylar out in the field and debris causing from the slide-in.

One of the craziest questions ever posed on this forum.