Educational Piece - Cleaned coin?

NorCalJack

So about 20 years ago I bought this coin raw and then took it a coin show in San Jose to get opinions. Everyone liked the coin but without it being certified everyone passed on making me an offer. They all said that it could be a fake. I understood their position.

So 20 years ago I sent to PCGS and they body bagged the coin and said "Altered Surfaces". I was not sure what that meant so I put it away for 20 years. So recently I started looking into what "Altered Surfaces" meant and I thought maybe there was a foreign substance on the surface so I bathed it in Acetone and sent it in again. This time I wanted it encapsulated as proof that it was an original coin.

So now it came back as "UNC Cleaned". I have attached the True view below. I do see some light scratches, but to me this are just normal scratches that are probably on all coins. If this coin was an AU-55 it would probably straight grade. So if someone can show me or explain why this got a details grade I would appreciate it. Perhaps I can learn what to look for. But in hand this coin to me does not have any hairlines.

I still like the coin and think it is a great example of a classic design and to me it looks great.

I would also like an opinion on the grade of the coin. If it was not cleaned, what grade would you give it.

Mr_Spud

I’m thinking that it’s the parallel lines especially visible in the top right fields on the reverse that suggest cleaned/wiped. Heres an educational cleaned coin I bought at a discount about 15 years ago already slabbed that helps me differentiate cleaned/wiped from die polishing. The obverse has die polishing behind Liberty’s neck but the reverse was cleaned/wiped which resulted in a bunch of parallel lines that aren’t easily visible unless you tilt the coin or tweak the lighting. I tweaked the lighting to make them show up good when I took the picture years ago right after I bought it

coastaljerseyguy

I think Mr_Spud nailed it and I don't like the 'cleaned' descriptor when its not blatantly obvious. Someone could have slid that coin across a bar a few times to create the parallel lines. Should it get details, probably yes, but wish there was a different grading term for these. Even the Merc, that coin could have gotten stuck in a drawer and damaged as such. But Cleaned, who knows for sure.