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Just added another tough one to the Barber Bank! Guess the Grade *Graded Posted*
amwldcoin
Posts: 11,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
It amazes me how few realize how tough some nice original Barber Half's are! Happy to put this one away for awhile!
12
Comments
Nice original skin on that one!
Yup, looks good. Looks like a F15 or VF20.
original vf.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Nice coin... I like that look on Barber halves....Cheers, RickO
DR. J.T. Donohue loves this date!
Not right, what's the grade then? VF25??
Excellent choice, smooth and even. You are correct that these are tough to complete. The 1913, 1914 and 1915 come to mind especially if shooting for a consistent appeal across the series.
Maybe we should turn this into a guess the grade!
The guide shows that the value almost doubles between 15 and 20, which seems quite dramatic. I'm curious to see what this one came in at.
Edited now that I see you decided to have us GUESS the grade rather than just TELL us: VF20
I will say VF25. 01-O have lots of strike issues, not unusual with NO
halves. 93-O and 02-O come to mind also. Could even sneak into 30 range on a lucky day. Really tough half in high grade circ.
Congrats
Jim
A keeper for a long while for sure ..... VF?
25
20 here.
30
siliconvalleycoins.com
25? really choice!
20 here.
VF 20.
I'm in at 20.
VF30. Beautiful original. The details say VF20-25 but factoring the weaker strike on the 01-O, I go VF30. A VF30 1901-O Shows up maybe once every couple of years from my experience.
Highest grade I ever owned after twenty years collecting was a VF30.
You are on the right track. Just look at the Eagle's left claw...is it there! This is a tough coin to assign a grade to. I'll reveal tomorrow.
F15, VF20 max IMO.
EAC 6024
I'd have no problem buying it as a VF20. Seems a bit too nice to be Fine to me. Cool old coin.
Hopefully this coin is a good education on Barber Halves that have a weak strike which is very typical for the 01-O's. You have to take in the overall look of the coin and the wonderful surfaces this coin has. Even with the weak strike the details are approaching VF30. I happen to agree with the grade.
Those grading this coin F need to be selling their Barber Halves to me!
Cool. Strike is an issue that isn't always easy to figure out on circulated coins. I think it might be easier in this case to appreciate the surfaces in-hand. It looks better somehow in the slab shot than in the cropped shots.
Don’t like it as a 35, even taking in the NO Mint strike issues. In my opinion it received a generous grade due to originality and minimal marks. It’s a very nice coin, just not a 35.
If I have the time and can find the pictures, I'll post a grading set of 01-O's. I think that might sway you a bit. Do you have a picture of the 01-O you had in your set? Of course grading is subjective...but strike has been considered part of the equation for years now. This coin was probably graded well over 10 years ago.
Maybe so. Set is retired but still online to view.
Here's some pictures of others I have or have sold:
Part 2!
Interesting bunch of examples. I can see now why the subject of the thread was given the 35 grade.
I sure miss the old coin facts for this very type comparison
Latin American Collection
some great coins posted, thank you amwldcoin! This thread prompted me to go to the Heritage archives to study the strike characteristics of this coin,and how it may affect grade, obviously a pretty tough proposition on moderately circulated examples. On MS examples, even MS 65 and higher examples often had some weakness on the eagle's eastern "shoulder", head/neck, and eastern thigh and arrow feathers. On the obverse, star 11 was often flat and some of the lower laurel leaves. However, the LIBERTY band and forehead hair were sharply struck. Likewise the outer 2/3 of the spatchco*ked bird's wing feathers, the shield lines (except for the extreme NE part), and central tail feathers were sharply impressed. So, if you envision these being worn down to VF or so, the LIBERTY band and upper laurel leaves, at least should be pretty reliable grade indicators. On the rev, the outer wing feathers and shield lines should still be reliable as they are not affected much by strike. Here are a poorly struck 62 and an average strike 65, from the Heritage Archives, for educational purposes:
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I think the coin in the OP is more consistent with the "typical strike," if you envision it being worn down to VF, even if you allow for the areas of strike weakness pictured above. In fact the OP coin is really close to the VF 25 example on photograde. The 35 grade assigned may owe more to the superb originality and eye appeal of the coin than to allowances for "weak strike," IMO.
I really think that having 4 divisions of VF makes little sense given the degree of subjectivity in grading circ coins. (but it makes for great discussions!) This degree of grade splitting is silly, IMO. I move for 2 VF grades: 25 and 35 and be done with it! ( if you look at the pcgs grading guide they pretty much lump all the VF's together when discussing Barber halves, rather than splitting hairs).