I got it in the mail today.

coinlieutenant

Well,

got the monster in the mail today. Here it is for everyone to see again.

Monstertime

John

ER

She's a beauty, John. Congrats!

Russ

Extraordinary coin with an incredible strike!

Russ, NCNE

DCAMFranklin

OK John, now that you have had the opportunity to get up close and personal with that coin, what do you think about the grade? I couldn't see anything in the pics of the auction that would justify that low of a grade. The seller never came to the previous thread to let us know of his assessment. Anyway, what say you?

ER

My guess AU55-58.

coinlieutenant

DCAM, good question.

First, let me caveat my answer with, "I am a very tough grader and an amateur that is learning"

If someone were to hand me the coin raw I would call it an AU58. The coin has hairlines, was definitely dipped at a previous time (which I thought before). Marks are minimal except for two bigger ones on the reverse that showed up in the scan and was prepared for.

That being said, my first look at the coin, as always, was under a halogen lamp where every imperfection looks 10 times worse than what it is. I showed the coin to a dealer in Carmel that makes a good living in coins and often upgrades coins. I took it in to her with the grade taped over and she called it a 63. When she saw that it was a 62 she told me to resubmit it. She also thought that I was crazy for calling it a AU58.

The coin really is gorgeous and I will keep it. My decision on keeping a coin is always whether or not it is in the top 2% in its grade for EYE APPEAL, not technicality, so although I personally feel it is overgraded technically I know that it beats out probably 95% of the 65's it would go against for beauty.

Oh, and the coin does fully cartwheel which of course gives it claims to MS. No luster breaks either.

John

ER

John,
I still call it AU58. There are some wears on Liberty's head, looking at the picture, am I correct?
Does it matter? Probably not, because it's beautiful.

coinlieutenant

ER,

Actually, no there are not. That is one of the first places I looked because of the apparent toning break. is that where you are talking about?

John

ER

That shows you can't really grade by looking at just pictures. Thanks, John.

BTW, the link doesn't work now. Picture no-show.

coinlieutenant

Hmmm. Dont know why that happens.

Will try to remedy.

John

berylcoin

Just curious, if it has full luster with no breaks, why would you call it AU? Because of the dip? The hairlines? I've never heard of these things precluding MS.

Regardless you have a beautiful coin in any grade.

BC

nwcs

Geocities is bad about limiting the bandwidth for free web sites. Usually you have to wait an hour after seeing that message come up to see the site again. Sounds like a great coin, though!

berylcoin

For those who missed it this is the coin in question:



BC

coinlieutenant

I called it AU because of the hairlines on the cheek, or perhaps they are slide marks. Like I said, I'm still learning.

Thanks for posting the image!

John

WWW

John, I'm glad you like the coin. And it appears you have a very favorable consensus from your coin collecting peers.
You can count me as one of those who find this coin very desirable for both it's grade and eye appeal. Congratulations.

Bustman

Wow, thats a beauty!

rainbowroosie

Who cares about miniscule wear, very nice example and worthy of anyone's collection.