What's wrong with this Barber Half?

[lehigh96]

I purchased this Barber Half years ago for AU price. There is definitely something wrong with the obverse around the neck/cheek/jawline area. I don't know if it was polished, thumbed, or cleaned somehow. The metal has definitely been disturbed (see closeup photo) The reverse looks fine to me and the luster is great on both sides.

 

Anyone have an opinion? What I cant figure out is what could have been wrong with such a nice coin to mess with it like that.

 

[WoodenJefferson]

If you hadn't pointed the area out, it would be hard to detect in the images. Looks polished for sure, why, only the person who attemped to restore the coin to it's original mint state would know that.

 

There might have been a spot of corrosion or a carbon spot in that area, but why abraid the whole area to remove the annomalie? There does not seem to be any bag mark or nick in that particular area that would persuade someone to alter the surfaces like that...who ever did it needs to be chastized.

 

Otherwise, it looks like it would have been a prized Barber.

[TomB]

It's been whizzed, which is too bad because original Barber half dollars are quite tough and the 1898-S issue is one of the tougher ones to find when undisturbed.

[MikeInFL]

The surfaces look altered to me.

[braddick]

Wizzed is right, but look at that strike! It's a problem coin but I still like it for what it is and for what it's got.

[James_OldeTowne]

Definitely whizzed, and heavily.

 

The "great luster" is artificially supplied by the whizzing process.

 

I would pay $250 for this coin, and keep it as an educational tool and reference piece.

[BillJones]

The whole coin looks weird because the surfaces have altered. The term “whizzed” (polished with a wire brush) comes to mind. It is a shame because the coin was probably quite nice before a profoundly stupid coin doctor messed with it to make it look “Unc” to a poorly educated buyer.

 

It’s easy to mess a coin up in a very short period of time, and it’s usually impossible to fix the problem once it has been done.

 

A coin like this is probably worth somewhere around VF money, but it's a bad buy because the coin is not easy to sell, either wholesale or retail. The ANA put out an edict years ago that members were supposed to see such items.

[Oldtrader3]

Looks wizzed by a small, soft, buffing wheel. Shown is a 1913-S Barber dime that was whizzed on the cheek and puttied to cover the wizzing and dimple. You can see the oval wizzed area around the dimple.