1864-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar PCGS AU Detail Cleaned Toned Rare Key Date

Low Mintage Civil War Era 1864-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar recently back from grading at PCGS where it graded PCGS AU Details, Cleaned. 

I was honestly not expecting this one to come back cleaned. I actually thought this had a legitimate shot of a 58 grade so this one is likely going back for a 2nd look, or possibly I will go to NGC or CAC for a different set of eyes … 

This is a Gorgeous Coin. Beautifully toned coin with very little evidence of any kind of cleaning. Thickly album toned in deep midnight blue, sea green with hints of firey orange and gold when held and tilted in the light. Yes, toning  can often mask cleanings. But, after lengthy careful scruitny and examination I am truly struggling to find much evidence of the cleaning. I do see a few wispy hair lines, but not a consistent patch or grouping and you can find a few hairlines on just about every single coin. The presence of a couple of hair lines alone does not automatically relegate any coin to being cleaned. It is not that simple or black and white! The original surfaces are at least 98% intact with a smooth, original mint sheen and good free flowing luster when rotated in the light.

Just 650,000 coins were originally minted and only a fraction of those estimated to survive today. The populationb reports for this coin ate PCGS are incredibly low in all grades, but especially in AU:

AU50 – 11

AU53 – 9

AU55 – 10

AU58 – 10

And it’s even lower in Mint State Grades. In fact, across all mint state grades, MS60-66, a grand total of a whopping 16 coins have been graded by PCGS (MS 60: 0, MS61: 2; MS62: 4; MS63: 6; MS64: 1; MS65: 2; MS66: 1). Not a single Plus (+) Grade at any grade level at PCGS