The first of the so-called "Philippine Dates". Most of the mintage of Dimes, Quarters & Halves struck at San Francisco in 1898-1900 were shipped to the Philippines to replace Spanish Colonial coinage after the 1898 Spanish-American War. As a result, these dates of coins, particularly 1898 & 1899, are scarcer overall than their Mintage would suggest. Most survivors in high grade are damaged or badly cleaned, some the result of being tossed into Manila Bay in early 1942 and later salvaged. This however is a nice solid coin with decent color. It likely did suffer a LIGHT, old cleaning (I think Stateside and not in the Philippines), however no more noticeable than for 95% of all of the other Barber Halves of the period. Most dealers in my experience would not bother to mention it - many would also call this "AU" without question.