Three Midgrade Seated Liberty halves: GTG showdown

Barberian

Here are three midgrade Seated Liberty halves with comparable wear on "LIBERTY" on the shield. Please guess the grade on all three. These are the sellers' photos but they can be expanded for more detail. Hint: no two coins share the same grade.

lermish

Left to right:
12 -20 - 15

amwldcoin

Left to Right
15-25-20

Stingray63

15, 20, 25

Walkerfan

12
15
20

ricko

I would say 15, 25, 20. Cheers, RickO

Paradisefound

I am not knowledgable but one thing I know ..... they are beautiful!

Barberian

I'll reveal the grades this evening. I will say this, no one has come closer than a total of 3-steps off for the three coins combined. For example, if the coin is graded P20 and someone calls it F12, they're two steps off of the TPG assigned grade.

I should add that all coins have been graded by PCGS.

coinbuf

20, 35, 30

TPRC

@Stingray63 said:
F15, F20, VF25

my vote as well!

dogwood

L to R, and I’m only going by the reverse: 30, 20, 25
The 55s has the best rev but the worst obv so it’s not fair.

JBN

30, 35, 40.

amwldcoin

@JBN said:
30, 35, 40.

WOW!

amwldcoin

I almost wish I had asked what generation holders each coin was in. The grading has loosened on these a bit over the years.

jesbroken

25, 20 and 15
Jim

FlyingAl

30, 20, 25. It would appear I agree with @dogwood.

Coinscratch

15, 20, 25

privatecoin

12 15 20

jtlee321

10, 15, 12

JBN

@amwldcoin said:

@JBN said:
30, 35, 40.

WOW!

I have a deal with myself that I GTG and post what I guess no-matter-what. I did have a real tasty breakfast.

relicsncoins

15, 15,20

alaura22

25
35
45

Barberian

@amwldcoin said:
I almost wish I had asked what generation holders each coin was in. The grading has loosened on these a bit over the years.

Good point. I think the grades assigned were fair, so I feel it conforms to today's standards.

amwldcoin

@Barberian said:

@amwldcoin said:
I almost wish I had asked what generation holders each coin was in. The grading has loosened on these a bit over the years.

Good point. I think the grades assigned were fair, so I feel it conforms to today's standards.

When I started dealing it would have been hard to sell any of those as F's!

Barberian

@amwldcoin said:

@Barberian said:

@amwldcoin said:
I almost wish I had asked what generation holders each coin was in. The grading has loosened on these a bit over the years.

Good point. I think the grades assigned were fair, so I feel it conforms to today's standards.

When I started dealing it would have been hard to sell any of those as F's!

Wow! So you had to have a full LIBERTY? So my understanding is FIne would start where VF25-30 is today, correct? When did standards change? I started collecting Liberty Seated halves in 2006. I've seen a recent tightening in the past 5 years or so.

Barberian

The grades:
25 - 1855-O
15 - 1874-S
20 - 1860-S

yosclimber

The 1991 Fourth Edition Official A.N.A. Grading Standards for United States Coins book has for Liberty Seated Half Dollars:

• VG-8 Four letters in LIBERTY are clear.
• F-12 All shield lines and letters in LIBERTY are weak but visible.
• VF-20 Every letter in LIBERTY is visible. Horizontal shield lines are weak in center.
• VF-30 LIBERTY and scroll are complete.

In my view, this is somewhat ambiguous; I believe "visible" means you can see at least part of the letter.
Your photos are not large enough to determine this for the central letter E.

And 1996 Red Book:

• VG-8, VERY GOOD - At least 3 letters in LIBERTY are evident.
• F-12, FINE - LIBERTY complete, but weak.
• VF-20, VERY FINE - LIBERTY mostly sharp.

And here is PCGS Photograde:
https://www.pcgs.com/photograde#/Seated50/Grades

FlyingAl

@Barberian said:
The grades:
25 - 1855-O
15 - 1874-S
20 - 1860-S

Well at least I'm consistently wrong! A jump off for each.

amwldcoin

@Barberian said:
The grades:
25 - 1855-O
15 - 1874-S
20 - 1860-S

I figured the 74-S would be the lowest after seeing it was in an older holder. Mid 90's and more people adhered to a full Liberty for F! Is the 55-O in the newest holder?

Edit to add: I still grade the 74-S the highest. It's a with motto and the motto takes away from the strike.

Barberian

@amwldcoin said:

@Barberian said:
The grades:
25 - 1855-O
15 - 1874-S
20 - 1860-S

I figured the 74-S would be the lowest after seeing it was in an older holder. Mid 90's and more people adhered to a full Liberty for F! Is the 55-O in the newest holder?

The 1874-S was submitted to PCGS at Summer FUN last year and I received it back in early December. I bought the 1855-O around 8 years ago.

The 1860-S was purchased less than 12 months ago.

amwldcoin

@Barberian said:

@amwldcoin said:

@Barberian said:
The grades:
25 - 1855-O
15 - 1874-S
20 - 1860-S

I figured the 74-S would be the lowest after seeing it was in an older holder. Mid 90's and more people adhered to a full Liberty for F! Is the 55-O in the newest holder?

The 1874-S was submitted to PCGS at Summer FUN last year and I received it back in early December. I bought the 1855-O around 8 years ago.

The 1860-S was purchased less than 12 months ago.

Looks like PCGS grades Seated Halves like they do Barbers! All over the place in Circ Grades! It doesn't matter what the holder says, If I'm buying from the pictures that's the values I would place on them. Everyone has their own criteria!

LogPotato

The coins all look nice regardless of "technical grade".

Omegaraptor

@amwldcoin said:

@Barberian said:

@amwldcoin said:

@Barberian said:
The grades:
25 - 1855-O
15 - 1874-S
20 - 1860-S

I figured the 74-S would be the lowest after seeing it was in an older holder. Mid 90's and more people adhered to a full Liberty for F! Is the 55-O in the newest holder?

The 1874-S was submitted to PCGS at Summer FUN last year and I received it back in early December. I bought the 1855-O around 8 years ago.

The 1860-S was purchased less than 12 months ago.

Looks like PCGS grades Seated Halves like they do Barbers! All over the place in Circ Grades! It doesn't matter what the holder says, If I'm buying from the pictures that's the values I would place on them. Everyone has their own criteria!

You have to consider the strike quality on each individual date. For instance 1877 IHCs tend to look way overgraded if going by LIBERTY on the headband, since all 1877 Indians were weak on the obverse towards 12:00 right off the bat.

Barberian

I put this slide together to argue the 1874-S was a VF20. However, the slide convinced me that the three coins were properly graded. The 55-O has less wear on the breast and thigh and more wing & neck detail over the other two. The surfaces are excellent. The 74-S has the most wear of the three on the reverse, and the surfaces show a bit of corrosion.