Are you refering to the upper left and lower right quadrants? Those are the only areas that I can see, which might be of concern to you. If you are asking about those two areas on the reverse, then no, I don't believe it has been cleaned. If you are concerned about some other part of the reverse, would you state your specific concern? Maybe I have missed something.
The reverse of this specific coin has very large areas unprotected by lettering and devices, so even the slightest bit of handling, (even so little that no obvious wear would appear anywhere else), would remove luster from those areas first.
Is there luster within the recesses of the crown? What about in the area of the lettering between TORNESI and DIECI? Is there any luster present there?
If you have luster present in protected areas, then my suspicion would be the coin saw a short period of circulation before finding its way into a collection, and that the lack of luster in largely unprotected areas of the field is primarily due to skin oil contact with those same areas removing most, if not all of the luster.
However, even if luster isn't present in the protected areas of the reverse, I still wouldn't be convinced the coin had been cleaned, though I wouldn't challenge PCGS if they (or someone else) stated the coin had been cleaned. It would, for me, fall into the category of 'questionable'.
Maybe, but that obverse has big time luster, so now I definately can see what concerns you. Still, why would anyone clean just the reverse? I would yield to the opinion of someone with more expertise, basically about 75% of the posters on this board.
The difference in darkness between the lighter and darker browns makes me think it could be retoning (nicely I might add) but it could be lighting... I'd need to see it in hand to be 99% sure
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DPOTD
Is there luster within the recesses of the crown? What about in the area of the lettering between TORNESI and DIECI? Is there any luster present there?
If you have luster present in protected areas, then my suspicion would be the coin saw a short period of circulation before finding its way into a collection, and that the lack of luster in largely unprotected areas of the field is primarily due to skin oil contact with those same areas removing most, if not all of the luster.
However, even if luster isn't present in the protected areas of the reverse, I still wouldn't be convinced the coin had been cleaned, though I wouldn't challenge PCGS if they (or someone else) stated the coin had been cleaned. It would, for me, fall into the category of 'questionable'.
Olmanjon
http://bit.ly/bxi7py
The difference in darkness between the lighter and darker browns makes me think it could be retoning (nicely I might add) but it could be lighting... I'd need to see it in hand to be 99% sure
The Fireman...