Interesting. I would guess AU58 from the photos provided every day of the week and I will emphatically defend the position that from the photos, it looks like the coin has a fair amount of high-point wear. Inferring that those who guessed AU missed it by a mile is incorrect in my view.
Now, seeing our host's grade, I think it's safe to say that photos alone aren't telling the whole story.
The trick to discern wear from high-point contact toning is to look for original mint luster in those areas. You really need to twirl it around in the light to figure that out. If those areas (maple leaves, especially) show luster, then it isn't wear and you're correct to see it as an MS coin. Do graders sometimes forgive a bit of wear? Well, they do nowadays, but usually that only gets you to MS62 or so. I'm guessing this coin has full luster everywhere on the devices.
Could the areas that look like wear just be poorly struck? Possibly. Again, your really need the coin in-hand to figure it out.
The weakest strike on gold dollars is often around the date and central obverse devices, sometimes the wreath too. Those look pretty good here. Not perfect, but pretty good. Areas that are poorly struck often don't show much luster, especially if that part of the planchet didn't even contact the die (like the center of many 1921 Peace dollars).
To summarize, what looks like wear could be wear, high-point toning, or areas that are poorly struck. Reading that from even good photos is pretty darn tough, and especially on a 14.3 mm coin.
i don't think the coin will cac based on the color. the green-gold coloring seen between the denticles and legend should be the predominant color of the coin in ms65 grade. i would like to know the results though.
the coin looks nicer in the first set of photos and slab shot w/ grade. my opinion of this coin is based on the photos.
For comparison purposes, this 1882 gold dollar is in an MS-65 holder.
Ditto for this 1880 gold dollar.
Perhaps I have been spoiled by the coins in my collection, although I do have a clunker or two in my set of 1880 to 1889 gold dollars that is over graded.
NGC called this 1885 gold an MS-66. It isn't. The dealer who sold this piece to me priced it as an MS-65 at the time. It probably falls short of even that, but it fit in with the rest of the coins in the set.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
makes me wonder if these fibers are from a velvet box or pouch (or something) that held the coin prior to encapsulation or if these are contaminants from pcgs? could they have something to do with the color of this coin? hmm
No, I think that it’s envelope toning caused be long years of storage. That would also account for the darker areas on the higher points of the hair.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
Comments
Interesting. I would guess AU58 from the photos provided every day of the week and I will emphatically defend the position that from the photos, it looks like the coin has a fair amount of high-point wear. Inferring that those who guessed AU missed it by a mile is incorrect in my view.
Now, seeing our host's grade, I think it's safe to say that photos alone aren't telling the whole story.
The trick to discern wear from high-point contact toning is to look for original mint luster in those areas. You really need to twirl it around in the light to figure that out. If those areas (maple leaves, especially) show luster, then it isn't wear and you're correct to see it as an MS coin. Do graders sometimes forgive a bit of wear? Well, they do nowadays, but usually that only gets you to MS62 or so. I'm guessing this coin has full luster everywhere on the devices.
Could the areas that look like wear just be poorly struck? Possibly. Again, your really need the coin in-hand to figure it out.
The weakest strike on gold dollars is often around the date and central obverse devices, sometimes the wreath too. Those look pretty good here. Not perfect, but pretty good. Areas that are poorly struck often don't show much luster, especially if that part of the planchet didn't even contact the die (like the center of many 1921 Peace dollars).
To summarize, what looks like wear could be wear, high-point toning, or areas that are poorly struck. Reading that from even good photos is pretty darn tough, and especially on a 14.3 mm coin.
I am just going to put this out there;
People focus WAY TOO MUCH on high points. AU will have friction in the fields. Especially on a soft metal like gold.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
i don't think the coin will cac based on the color. the green-gold coloring seen between the denticles and legend should be the predominant color of the coin in ms65 grade. i would like to know the results though.
the coin looks nicer in the first set of photos and slab shot w/ grade. my opinion of this coin is based on the photos.
For comparison purposes, this 1882 gold dollar is in an MS-65 holder.
Ditto for this 1880 gold dollar.
Perhaps I have been spoiled by the coins in my collection, although I do have a clunker or two in my set of 1880 to 1889 gold dollars that is over graded.
NGC called this 1885 gold an MS-66. It isn't. The dealer who sold this piece to me priced it as an MS-65 at the time. It probably falls short of even that, but it fit in with the rest of the coins in the set.
I'll give credit where credit is due; the OP wasn't born yesterday and I don't see him posting dogs here, and has the coin in hand.
interesting
makes me wonder if these fibers are from a velvet box or pouch (or something) that held the coin prior to encapsulation or if these are contaminants from pcgs? could they have something to do with the color of this coin? hmm
No, I think that it’s envelope toning caused be long years of storage. That would also account for the darker areas on the higher points of the hair.
Nice Gem. The photos made the envelope toning look like "rub", but the slab picture makes it clear the coin has full luster.
Has trueviews now.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
Beautiful piece! Admittedly, I also mistook the weaknesses in strike for wear and thought... wow, I really suck at grading gold! ;-)
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