is there a way to tell if a coin has been cleaned?

psxchelly

i have just started getting into Morgans, and i was looking at some at a flea market the other day. The seller had decent prices, but in the endi was kinda nervous to buy becuse some looked too nice.

is there an obvious way to tell if they had been cleaned or altered in any way?

KlectorKid

Rotate them in the light and look for hairline scratches in the fields both with the naked eye and with magnification.

FC57Coins

If the coin has been harshly cleaned it'll be very noticeable, especially on the high points which will have a polished look to them. My suggestion would be to look at good slabbed coins first and get a feel for what you're looking for before you venture out into fleamarkets.

Frank

kranky

The best way is to have someone show you some cleaned coins, so you see what they look like. There are some obviously cleaned coins, but if you didn't know what they looked like, how could you tell?

carterhaines

yes, as other have said, cleaned coins have hairlines. Also, polished or cleaned coins will sometimes have unnatural luster, like a low grade coin that shines a lot. Another was to detect polished coins is that the surfaces will appear smooth instead of lightly granular. Cleaned coins which have been cleaned with a wire brush will be covered in many many small pits. The best way though is just to see many uncleaned coins, and many cleaned coins so that you can learn to distinguish the two.

darktone

I'll probably get scolded for this but.... try cleaning some wothlesss coins yourself( state quarters work good) and you will start to notice things that you never did before about a coins luster and how light reflects off of it. To be able to detect expertly whizzed and cleaned coins it will take years for some and others will never get it. mike

stujoe

I was going to say the same thing about cleaning some pocket change and looking at the change in surfaces.