1852 Liberty 1/2 gold Quarter Eagle, NGC AU details

Description

1852 Liberty 1/2 gold Quarter Eagle, authenticated / graded / encapsulated by NGC at Almost Uncirculated AU details (cleaned).
Cleaning has been largely reversed with NCS’ conservation, showcasing its strong details and gold brilliance.  This is an extraordinarily-detailed, high-end AU that underwent cleaning it should not have, but the details and gold brilliance of this specimen is extraordinary.  One more feature is on the reverse:  the reverse is rotated clockwise about 15 degrees clockwise from normal.
Why clean an uncirculated coin?
Believe it or not - and it is hard enough to - coin dealers and collectors were advised to clean their coins in the mid-20th century.  It's just one of those professional knowledge bits that turned out to be wrong advice for the care of a coin that would be possessed and sustained across the centuries.  Because of the subsequent, light toning, it looks like this 1879 quarter eagle received some old cleaning long ago, sometime between the 1930s-1950s, at a guess based on when most 19th century coins were so conditioned.
Many collectors and shoppers don't sweat the cleaning if it's light, as you do "buy the coin and not the slab" and what cannot be restored is wear through circulation.  This provides a cost-saving opportunity for you, as "details" grades go for somewhere along 70% - 30% the price of a coin with a firm equivalent grade.  We are pleased to make this opportunity available.