bobh Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Advertised as "prooflike" ... looks whizzed or otherwise polished to me: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=190231551541 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostDutchman Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 i would have to agree.... nasty looking coin there.... ick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Looks great to me...great detail...then again I couldnt care less if a coin is cleaned as long as they dont do it with steel wool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mummytrol Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Looks great to me...great detail...then again I couldnt care less if a coin is cleaned as long as they dont do it with steel wool. BS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lithuania Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Yea, another cleaned piece. I am against any cleaning or polishing coins. Polishing does not increase the value of the coin, so what's the purpose of doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE MOULDING Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Yea, another cleaned piece. I am against any cleaning or polishing coins. Polishing does not increase the value of the coin, so what's the purpose of doing this? Why does the only answer have to be about money??? (although that's what many collectors seem to focus on these days). Maybe the original owner thought it looked better? I'm not condoning it...I would never do it on coins in my collection...but increasing value isn't the only possible answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 more power to you if you dont want a cleaned or polished coin...that just means I get great looking coins and medals for much cheaper I love the fact that a harmless cleaning causes people to irrationally reject beautiful coins...more for me!! I wouldnt buy the posted coin at the price they are asking as I enjoy taking advantage of this odd anti-cleaning phenomenon Certainly cleaning or polishing doesn't increase the value (though many properly cleaned coins have great eye appeal and probably should be worth more) but there is no logical reason why a proper cleaning should decrease the value either...the anti-cleaning thing is just some arbitrary stupidity that people buy into for some reason and helps collectors like me get outstanding coins for cheap...so keep it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoRnholio Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 The reverse actually looks quite nice, though lightly cleaned. There is something really wrong with the obverse though. The moustaches and areas around the eyes definitely look tampered with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marv Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 more power to you if you dont want a cleaned or polished coin...that just means I get great looking coins and medals for much cheaper I love the fact that a harmless cleaning causes people to irrationally reject beautiful coins...more for me!! I wouldnt buy the posted coin at the price they are asking as I enjoy taking advantage of this odd anti-cleaning phenomenon Certainly cleaning or polishing doesn't increase the value (though many properly cleaned coins have great eye appeal and probably should be worth more) but there is no logical reason why a proper cleaning should decrease the value either...the anti-cleaning thing is just some arbitrary stupidity that people buy into for some reason and helps collectors like me get outstanding coins for cheap...so keep it up The term "cleaning" can have various interpretations. Chemical cleaning generally means "dipping" in a solution that strips a thin layer of metal from the coin, thereby removing any layer of oxidation from the surface. Done properly and quickly, this can improve a coin that has undesirable toning or, in some cases, spots. Too much dipping of an uncirculated coin will remove the microscopic fine lines caused by metal flow during striking which create luster, rendering the coin dull. You have to compare an overdipped coin with a lustrous unc coin to appreciate the beauty that is imparted to a coin by luster. Mechanical cleaning uses an abrasive to "polish" the coin. Superficially, this may make the inexperienced collector think that the coin is lustrous, but the shine obtained by harshly cleaning a coin in this manner does not compare to true luster, and is the result of a myriad of hairlines that are nothing like the microscopically fine metal flow lines caused by striking. It does not take much force to cause hairlines, and most older coins have been mechanically cleaned or wiped in some manner over the years to "improve" the look of the coin. Proof coins, in particular, are very delicate and easily abraded by even the softest material. Most collectors consider coins that have been harshly cleaned, either by chemical or mechanical means, ruined, and will not pay nearly as much for such a coin as for a coin in a pristine state. This is not the result of snobbishness, it's simply due to a preference for coins with eye appeal. Do you want to look at a beautiful, lustrous surface showcasing the design, or do you want your eyes diverted by a bunch of hairlines marring everything? If you don't really care how the coin looks, buy a harshly cleaned coin anyway, but unless you're foolish, you won't offer nearly as much for such a coin as you or others would for a pristine, or nearly pristine coin. For me, at least, I quickly forget the price of a coin, but the beauty of a pristine coin is a joy to perceive each time I look at it. That's why I don't buy harshly cleaned coins even if I could get them cheaply. Marv Finnley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 like I said, harsh cleaning is a no-no to me but what constitutes a harsh cleaning seems to widely vary. Like I said before, if the coin looks like it was cleaned with steel wool, I don't want it either...but if I have to go down to the microscopic level to tell if it has been cleaned or not...if like you say, it has good eye appeal...then I don't mind in the least though I prefer to buy the coin filthy and do the cleaning myself as I have experience with cleaning coins the right way. If I were you I wouldn't speak for ALL or even most collectors, to do so IMO would be a mistake. This anti-cleaning hysteria has not always been a factor in collecting. As I said before, if I can tell with my naked eye that a coin has been cleaned (and not simply guess because it is too shiny or clean for its age) then I wouldn't pay as much for it...by that I mean harshly cleaned. But coins are tougher than people like to pretend...after all you are talking about soft cloth on very tough metal...use some common sense!! If I have to highly magnify a coins surface to find evidence of scratches from cleaning...then it is not harsh. I have coins that have had centuries of filth caked on them that a months worth of distilled water soak removed and made the coin into and outstanding example....under the grime was a wonderful, unworn coin. No harsh cleaning, at the most a pat or light rub with a soft cloth at the worst. People will go bonkers telling people not to do the slightest cleaning on a coin that could obviously be improved with a bit of careful cleaning. This hysteria by so called experienced collectors is laughable to me as most coins in most peoples collection that are over a certain amount of years old are cleaned...period. I have been collecting for longer than my pocket book would like to remember so my views are not coming from inexperience but simple common sense that I think some collectors seem to abandon when it comes to this issue. What you often get are people try to guess if a coin has been cleaned or not from a photo, running to forums to denounce a coin without even seeing the coin in hand let alone to look for scratches under a magnification. The coin posted here is quite lovely though I agree that the reverse looks outstanding, the obverse...not so much. This could simply be the lighting and photography. I wouldn't buy it for a premium all the same. When I got my hands on the coin below, I couldn't even tell it had hatching in the fields behind the lion it was so filthy. A little careful cleaning and I discovered an outstanding coin...the value of this coin, IMO, went up...its a cleaned coin...but its outstanding...period: I think the hysteria about cleaning a coin is, in fact, a sign of inexperience...not at all snobbishness...or if it is snobbishness its born of an actual lack of knowledge...possibly blindly following a trend. But again...I do not want HARSHLY cleaned coins either....The up side is this paranoia that will cause a person to pass on a coin they have never seen in hand simply because they THINK it might have been cleaned means I get outstanding examples of coins for cheap so keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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