Finally got one: 1799 Silver Dollar. Guess Grade! Original crud still attached:

Baley

Well, it took forever to find a draped bust dollar with no adjustment marks, decent strike, honest wear (to make it affordable), no major damage, AND with its original crud still attached, but it finally arrived, and here's a picture. For fun, I'd like to get 10 serious estimates of it's grade, average them, and compare the result to what's printed on the PCGS insert, the picture of which I will post later. Thanks for your opinion!

Shocker

I'm not an expert by any means, but I like to play.
I'll guess VF35?

littlewicher

I'm going to guess VF-30. Nice, original coin! Sure is a beauty.

Blackhawk

I'll guess VF-30

greghansen

XF40. Very nice.

MadMarty

40

paigowjohnny

EF-40

agfox

mmm.. that's a beauty! Lovin it. vf25

ARCO

High end VF, maybe XF.

Tyler

braddick

Just the way God meant them to be- absolutely original and I like it at VF25 with maybe a bump up for a smooth planchet and better reverse detail.

Monstavet

VF-30...and I like it! Very cool coin!

geb209

VF30

mbbiker

VF35 - XF40

Draco

VF35

Very nice coin

banknote1

I have seen worse graded EF40, so IMO EF40!! Very nice dollar...

Baley

Thanks everyone who guessed! The average (mean) estimate is VF-33!

Isn't it a miracle that a coin like this circulated for what, 10, 15 years, and somehow evaded all those early Americans who were scratching their initials in these, or drilling holes in them, or otherwise mutilating them, and then, over the next 180+ years, eluded "a good shinin' up" by one well-meaning owner or another? I mean, the black stuff in the shield and around the legend and devices is OLD.

(or is at least such good fake stuff as to be indistinguishable from original and therefore moot

anyway, I agree with the average and think of it as a VF-30+, not quite 35, and I obviously think it's worth EF-40 trends because thats what she cost here's a pic of the coin in the slab:

EVillageProwler

PCGS will probably give this a VF30.

EVP

Baley

PCGS will probably give this a VF30.

EVP


or even less

dorkkarl

i guess pcgs would undergrade this at vf-35. i grade ef-40, value at ef-40+. outstanding coin.

K S

dorkkarl

oops! just saw the 2d pic. they undergraded it, a disservice to numismatics. coins of this originality should be market-graded higher, imo.

K S

Elcontador

You have yourself one nice Bust $. One reason I've avoided pre stream-press coinage to this point is because of the uneven strikes. IMO the reverse is a no questions asked EF; even the clouds have quite a bit of detail. However, the obverse is missing quite a bit of detail in the hair and bow, and doesn't look nearly as nice to me (though by no means does it look worse than a VF).

The other thing is that from the Bust coinage I've seen, the grading appears horribly inconsistent. My favorite example of this was a 1796 Half Cent with Pole slabbed as MS 55 which MAY have been a VF coin.

dan1ecu

Wonderful looking coin! I can understand why you’d want to pay a premium. Great original color.