Just how baggy can it be to get...

ursabear

I've been stretching my skills to work on MS Kennedys. Tough. Very tough.

I've not held a 66 or better in my hands to see the quality of strike, the details to which I should pay attention, and the amount of contact marks/machine wear can be allowed for the grade.

Any tips from you pros? Any guidance would be great.

FC57Coins

Ursabear:

Im not a pro by any stretch - but I just started a Kennedy set after finishing my Franklins (sorta). Anyway, I've been saving mintset coins for over the past 35 or so years and I decided to start sending them to PCGS for grading - I selected best 20 Kennedy's that I had - smooth faces and shields, few if any bag marks on the fields - I got back 64's, 65's and 66's. As best I can tell so far, any blemish on the face and you're out of 65 and above range. Very very minor contact marks got me a 65. Even less got me a 66. If I ever get as good as Russ at taking pictures I'll post some. I have a second batch of Kennedy's in for grading - we'll see how these come out!

Good luck!

Frank

airplanenut

Getting near 66 and above, expect pretty clean surfaces... since JFKs are modern, they should have strong strikes... the few and far between marks should be very slight hits in the fields... if its on JFK or the eagle it shouldn't hit 66...

Jeremy

Russ

My experience with business strikes is limited to the 1964 only, so it may not apply to all the years.

To get in to an MS66 holder, the coin cannot have any hits to the portrait area or lettering on the obverse, and only the most extremely minor nicks to the shield and/or feathers on the reverse. More than one or two very minor hits in the fields on either side will also keep it from 66. Strike must be crisp and toning, if any, has to be pleasing to the eye.

Here is an MS65:



The reverse on this one is flat-out MS67, and the fields are pristine on both sides. What kept this out of a 66 holder are the dings on the portrait.

Russ, NCNE

ursabear

Wow!

Thank you all so much. It looks like a fairly tall hill to climb, considering the JFKs in my mint sets... It looks like the really nice 02 I've got is probably a 65, maybe even a 64 (there's a scuff on the top of the shield). The feathers are great, the fields are very nice, and the bust has a couple of faint contact marks.

Thanks for the picture, Russ. That's a great guage. I'm going to drop it to my disk for reference.

Frank, if you get pictures, please share. I'd love to see some different ones here and there.

Airplanenut - excellent advice.

You guys are the tops!

Bear

Ursabear - I got a couple pair of pants that are pretty baggy, but I guess
thats not much help to you.

ursabear

Bear, You know, I have some baggies too, but me thinks PCGS would "body bag" them