Dumb Question.... Toned coin in a details - cleaned slab - How can I tell?

CoinPhysicist

Good Sunday Morning!

I've attached the seller's images of a coin that is for sale right now somewhere. It's in a details - cleaned slab. I feel like many times I can tell if a coin is cleaned, but maybe the toning and the fact that it isn't white is throwing me off. Asking these 2 questions so I can learn:

1. What are the obvious signs that this (or any toned coin) is cleaned?
2. How harshly was this cleaned and was it recent or a long time ago?

Thanks for your expertise!

MFeld

“What are the obvious signs that this (or any toned coin) is cleaned?” If the cleaning was abrasive, there will be hairlines beneath the toning. On the other hand, if a coin has been dipped, rather than abrasively cleaned, it might later re-tone to an appearance that indicates such.

“How harshly was this cleaned and was it recent or a long time ago?”
I can’t tell from the images how harshly it was cleaned. The toning is dark enough, such that my guess is that the cleaning was not recent. However, some coins re-tone quickly, while others do not.

I didn’t see the “dumb question” you referenced.😉

Edited to add: The toning looks artificial in the top pictures and re-toned and/or artificial in the others.

BillJones

I cannot tell from those pictures what sort of cleaning was involved with that piece. I don’t see hairlines or that sort of thing. The lighter spots on Ms. Liberty’s face, hair and cap suggest to me that the coin was cleaned with an abrasive and that the more of the rub was concentrated on the high points. That is a speculation on my part.

The one thing I can see is that I’m quite sure that the toning is artificial. It was probably put there to hide the cleaning. The dark splotchy look of the obverse in the fourth photo tells me that some sort of chemical was applied to darken the silver quickly.

Without seeing the coin in person, I can't make any more observations.

CoinPhysicist

Thank you for the insightful answers @MFeld and @BillJones. I thought that splotchy-ness of the toning was certainly peculiar, and I would definitely believe it's artificial. I didn't really consider that because I was focused on the slab designation of cleaned.

I don't actually own the coin as I said, mostly curious about why it looks like that .

I put away the images and re-looked at them, does anyone else see what looks to be parallel faint lines running from right to left and slightly upwards diagonally across the observe? Or is that just my eyes looking for something that isn't there? [image 1]

Insider2

There are two kinds of cleaning: chemical and mechanical. Sometimes they occur together. At the least, the surface of your coin has been "burned out" by chemicals. In this case, I should call it harsh.

ricko

I agree with the above inputs.... looks like a harsh chemical cleaning of some sort... the artificial tarnish may also conceal mechanical cleaning.... Cheers, RickO

IrishMikey

The other possibility is that the grading service meant to call the coin either "Artificially Toned" or "Environmental Damage" and accidentally hit the "Cleaned" key instead. It happens.

CoinPhysicist

Awesome, thanks for the thoughts everyone! Glad I can understand a little more about how this coin may have ended up looking like that. Again, not my coin, just curious.