Check out this coin. (I hope the links work...)

I regularly check the major auction sites and dealer listings for coins that I need for my collection. The upcoming Dallas PNG Invitational auction at Heritage includes one coin of interest: an NGC graded MS 66 1867-S half dime. Here is a link to the Heritage obverse photo: http://coins.ha.com/c/lot-image.zx?saleNo=1218&lotNo=0&lotIdNo=1031&inventoryNo=&id=12230393

Part of my investigation includes scanning prior auction records. Consider this coin, from a past Heritage auction: http://coins.ha.com/c/lot-image.zx?saleNo=1206&lotNo=4382&lotIdNo=217001&inventoryNo=0&id=11387537

It is clearly the same coin. It has been cleaned up a bit to look nice and white, but did not get an upgrade for the effort.

I started out desiring nice white coins, but have come to appreciate nicely toned coins as generally preferable. I passed on this coin in that prior auction for multiple reasons. The toning made it unattractive to me. I questioned the grade because of the marks that are visible.

But the kicker for me, was that it looks like it may have been mounted somehow in the past. Look at the rim, above the E in UNITED, and half way around, above the RI in AMERICA. There appear to be notches there. They are visible in the reverse photos as well.

I will be passing on this coin again. As nice as it now looks at first glance, those notches would always jump out at me, screaming "damage". What do you think?

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