1603 Teutonic Taler

DeiGratia

I recently purchased a 1603 Teutonic Taler Raw from a dealer in Germany in hopes of getting it eventually slabbed.

Upon receiving the coin I noticed faint hairlines in open fields of the coin. The hairlines are more apparent with a 5x Loupe and mostly disappear with the naked eye. The hairlines change direction when the coin moves which leads me to believe that it is not die polishing.

Since this is my first submission to PCGS I am not very knowledgeable or experienced with the tolerance of PCGS or NGC for that matter.

Would it be safe to say that it will come back detailed graded ??

Here is the coin.

TwoKopeiki

Nothing obvious in those photos that would preclude our host from grading it, imo

DeiGratia

Here is my best attempt at showing the hairlines

Bob13

It is hard to see from the pictures. I don’t think it is “safe to say” it gets a details grade. I would send it in.

Herb_T

Beautiful coin! I would buy it even after what you found and send it in. At this point the key is for it to be graded authentic. Getting an actual grade would be best, but I would take it as long as it wasn’t counterfeit!

Herb_T

https://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/Teutonic_Order_1603_thaler_Dav-5848

Stella

Regardless of grade, it is a cool piece. Enjoy it!

JohnnyCache

I had a similar circumstance but with a totally different type of coin of course.

I had purchased a Charles III 1/2 real graded MS62 NGC online. It was my intention to cross the coin over to PCGS to be incorporated into the denomination set I'm building.

I felt that the coin looked decent enough but thought perhaps it would be more suited to a PCGS 58 holder.

I asked a dealer to look at the coin to see if they thought it would cross. Originally, I was going to have them send it in. They examined the coin and under bright light, along with magnification, hairlines on the reverse became visible. The dealer didn't think it would cross. I pondered sending the coin in anyway just to see what would happen. Finally, after going back and forth in my head on what to do, I decided to take a chance and send it in myself. I set the minimum grade at AU55. Once again the hairlines on the reverse were not visible to the naked eye and not even with 5x magnification alone, you really had to turn it under bright lighting. Bottom line it did not cross.

I think your coin is very attractive but if a straight grade is what is important to you I think it is somewhat of a gamble that the graders will straight grade and that's based on your description and that last picture.

• spelling edits

DeiGratia

Thank you everyone for the response and help. So the seller thinks it’s die polishing because the hairlines don’t go over the raised fields and I think it’s an old light cleaning.

I really love the coin so I asked the seller if PCGS detail grades it, can I return the coin for a refund, and he agreed.

So I have nothing to lose and will be sending the coin in for grading to PCGS. Fingers crossed it will come back straight graded so I don’t have to deal with shipping the coin back to Germany.

I took some more pictures in natural sunlight and it’s really hard to see the hairlines with the naked eye.

amwldcoin

I think even if that coin does have an old light cleaning it's going to get a pass at PCGS unless it's not nearly as wholesome as the pictures suggest. Might get netted down a little though.

Bob13

That's a pretty great deal from the seller. Looking forward to seeing a TrueView. Good luck!

EVillageProwler

Die polish lines are raised on the coin, while an old cleaning leaves hairlines that are recessed into the coin. The difference should be obvious under a loupe.