"Tooled" Coin 1 1

[EagleRJO]

I saw this label indicating "Tooled - AU Details".  I don't see a concise PCG$ definition of "tooled", but NGC defines it as "either the smoothing of a coin’s fields to remove scratches, corrosion and other forms of damage or to the restoration of lost details through use of a graver or knife"

The coin just looks cleaned to me, with some attempts to hide that and marks or scratches near Liberty's head.  Where is this coin "tooled"?  Is it smoothed over fields in an attempt to remove scratches from a cleaning?

Edited June 2, 2023 by EagleRJO

[Coinbuf]

Tough to tell from that photo, way too much light and reflection to see the surfaces well.   Sometimes you cannot tell from a static photo, the coin may need to be rotated to find the problems.

[Sandon]

    It's hard to tell from these photos, but the "tooling" is likely the scrape through Liberty's head, which appears to have been done with a file or other such tool. I also see unusual lumps on Liberty's lap, but these could be displacements resulting from the chop marks on the reverse.  The grading services tend to be loose in their descriptions of impairments. The "smoothing" referred to in the NGC "tooling" definition sometimes leads to a grading holder description of "smoothed" or "repaired".

[EagleRJO]

This one just seemed strange as I would normally think of "tooling" as marks on a coin in a limited area, say around an altered mint mark or repaired hole, in an attempt to hide evidence of those alterations.

On 6/1/2023 at 5:58 PM, Sandon said:

''' the "tooling" is likely the scrape through Liberty's head

I don't think the scrapes or scratches by Liberty's head would be tooling, as it looks more like just scratches or etchings without any attempts to hide or smooth out those scratches.  It seems like the "tooling" relates to the cleaning or attempts to hide those scratches all over the fields.

On 6/1/2023 at 5:58 PM, Sandon said:

The grading services tend to be loose in their descriptions of impairments. The "smoothing" referred to in the NGC "tooling" definition sometimes leads to a grading holder description of "smoothed" or "repaired".

I have seen the "smoothed" designation before, which referred to trying to hide scratches from a previous improper cleaning all over the fields of the coin, and this one looked similar.  But you may be right that the grading companies have been a little loose over the years on how they used certain terms related to impairments.

[powermad5000]

I am surprised @EagleRJO that you didn't provide us cropped photos as well as the coin in the holder. It is hard to tell from just the pics in the holder.

I could only venture to guess that a description of tooled can mean more than just what NGC put in that description. I would say tooled also applies to the use of any tool to do any of a number of things to try to improve a coin that has some type of damage. Anything from damaged reeds, spots, using a tool to remove crud, repairing a hole, trying to put full split bands back on to a Mercury dime that has lost its full bands, fixing a bent coin, etc.

I have seen some specific NGC labels in the past such as Mount Removed, Obv (or Rev) Spot Removed, Polished, Obv (or Rev) Wheel Mark, Whizzed, Altered Color, and Altered Surface. I am wondering if the term tooled was a more generic term used in the past that isn't used as much anymore.

[EagleRJO]

Yea, I normally would provide better cropped pics ... ... but all I had was the slab pics from an eBay listing and the cert didn't have better pics.

I think you can caulk this one up to just a loosely used term from a while ago by PCG$ related to trying to hide evidence of cleaning throughout the fields.

[ldhair]

The label shows code 98. That is a catchall for several types of damage. There is not much room on the label. The coin may have more problems than will fit on the label. I believe the grader picks the worst problem to be shown. 

[EagleRJO]

I think that if it was "tooled" or "smoothed" either would be a No-Grade Code 98 - Damage.  I just didn't see evidence of tooling except where someone tried to smooth out the cleaning scratches.  I would have expected it to be described as "smoothed", which is why I did a double take looking at the slab.