What do you think of this 1838 Half Dollar? (Dial Up Users be warned)

CodyB · December 7, 2005 6:41AM

Inherited it from my Grandpa when he passed in...1998 maybe, I was rather young at the time, loved him, but wish I could remember more of him. Either way, he left me one helluva collection, and I'm wondering, what do you think of this bad boy?

Do you think its been cleaned or anything? I'm not an expert at telling this sort of thing yet...

stephunter · December 7, 2005 6:45AM

It looks like the obverse (front) has been cleaned. It is hard to say on the reverse because of the lighting in the picture.

coinfreak499 · December 7, 2005 6:46AM

The details are strong and the coin is a higher grade, but it was cleaned. I would say moderately so.

CodyB · December 7, 2005 6:48AM

Does that lower value a bunch? Not that I'd ever think of selling my Grandpas coins, oh, and aren't most coins from before a certain point cleaned during some point in their life because people didn't really know it was bad?

And on that scale from 1-70 (I think it is...), what do you think it is? Approximately, I mean, I know its a picture,and I know you're not a grader professionally, well probably...

Merc · December 7, 2005 6:53AM

It must be nice to have a coin your grandfather had. I have my grandfather's desk but no coins.

Your coin has AU details.

Cladiator · December 7, 2005 6:55AM

Unfortunately the coin has been whizzed or harshly cleaned at the least. Cleaning is pretty hard to get away from with these coins but in this case it's on the extreme side. Very unfortunate with this coin as the detail is incredible, high AU to even MS I would say. Cool coin still

itsnotjustme · December 7, 2005 6:56AM

AU55 for details, knocked down to XF40 for the cleaning. Nice coin with some history to it. Value in the $150 to $200 range.

coinfreak499 · December 7, 2005 6:59AM

<< <i>Does that lower value a bunch? >>

Cleaning does lower the value of the coin.

<< <i> aren't most coins from before a certain point cleaned during some point in their life because people didn't really know it was bad? >>

Although many older coins have been cleaned, it is still possible to find uncleaned ones (the uncleaned ones are termed "original")

<< <i>And on that scale from 1-70 (I think it is...), what do you think it is? >>

Without the cleaning considered (the cleaning lowers the grade of the coin) I would call this a AU50 or 53 out of 70. AU stands for About Uncirculated.

Dan

JJM · December 7, 2005 7:00AM

id agree with the above post , an unfortunate xf40, but a very fortunate coin for you to have

coinlieutenant · December 7, 2005 7:01AM

AU details, net XF.

Still nice and a great coin to remember your grandpa by.

John

CodyB · December 7, 2005 7:02AM

Yea, shes a beaut, but yea, I never knew cleaning reduced value that much, crazy....Either way, very cool, thanks guys.

If anyone could tell me how you know its cleaned so much I'd love to know. The thing I thought was a big indicator was that weird mark behind Lady Liberties head, otherwise I probably would not have asked about it.

goose3 · December 7, 2005 7:03AM

cleaned or not, it would look darn good encased in a Dansco 7070

coinlieutenant · December 7, 2005 7:04AM

Cody,

You can see very light lines going in one uniform direction on your coin...that is one (of many) indications of a cleaning.

John

CodyB · December 7, 2005 7:09AM

Oh yea, I see em now, very cool, they're much more present on the front then the back I'd say though.

Thanks a bunch guys.

*looks up Dansco 7070*
Now thats a collection, holy whoa...

itsnotjustme · December 7, 2005 7:12AM

Another sign of cleaning is the lack of luster (sometimes this is due to the scan or photo). When a coin is struck the metal flows and forms minutes waby pattern on the coin surface. This is what causes reflected light to cartwheel around the coin is you rotate it under a light source. Cleaning often destroys this patter, and you get a dull or flat surface reflection.

The photo you post shows no luster. On a coin with that little wear, there should still be luster in all but the higher design areas.

TorinoCobra71 · December 7, 2005 7:12AM

Details are OK, coin has been cleaned. But at 160+ years old its a stunner!

TorinoCobra71

Cladiator · December 7, 2005 7:13AM

Another indicator would be the color of the coin. An original uncleaned coin should have a covering of toning over the coin...varying in how dark but it should still be there. You see the dark areas immediately below the bottom curls on her hair...like dark stuff stuck in the crevace between her hair and the field of the coin...the entire coin at one point was most likely toned similar to that.

The cleaning can be done several ways. Some are much less intrusive than others. A good bath or dip in chemicals can strip the coin of the toning and if done properly the coin can still be considered market acceptable.

Cleaning is also done with rags or wire brushes or sponges and things of that sort. When cleaned with those tools the coins take on the lines that you see in your example. This not only cleans the coin but also deteriorates the details of the coin and physically removes metal off the surface.

The wear on a coin also helps determine a coins cleaning history. If you have a coin that grades in the fine range (12-15 out of 70) and the coin is white like yours there is a problem. With enough circulation and usage to wear the coin to fine it should have a healthy amount of "crap" or "crust" stuck to it. White on a mid-low end circulated coin is a dead giveaway. It can be tougher on the higher AU-MS coins as whiteness isn't neccessarily a dead giveaway for a cleaning.

itsnotjustme · December 7, 2005 7:23AM

Maybe we should re-title this our "How to Detect Cleaning" thread.

CodyB · December 7, 2005 7:36AM

Heh, its helping a lot, but yea, it probably would be a bad title at this point.

But, you've got to start somewhere, you know?

Thanks! (again)

What do you think of this 1838 Half Dollar? (Dial Up Users be warned)

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