An overgraded Indian Cent

tjkillian

I was waffeling over whether this Indian Cent was an VF-35 or an XF-40. It came back from PCGS as an AU-55. Am I the only one who thinks it is overgraded? By the way, it is available.

Tom

UncleJoe

XF-40. Definitely better than VF.

I don't see any luster and a little too much wear to be AU and certainly not AU-55.

Joe.

maddogale

Tom, is that color right? almost looks to be an old cleaning. maybe it's just the lighting... my AU IHC looks a bit better as far as rub along the ribbon and above the ear. (the scratches are on the slab)

ccrdragon

I think the graders were having a bad day! From the picture, there is no seperation between the ribbon and the hair and that limits the coin to XF at best.

Given the other marks on the coin and not seeing the reverse, I'd go XF-40 also.

Send it back to PCGS marked to HomerunHall's attn and request a grade review - they totally blew this one!

IrishMike

Looks xf-40 to me. I can't see how they could call it au, the diamonds are clear enough, if fact I can't see two of them. I have ef-40's that are struck better.

CapAnson

Now the dilemma is do you sell the slab instead of the grade?

Pushkin

Grading from scans is always problematic. The line separating the lower hairline from the ribbon should be distint for XF, however, if it is difficult to determine, and the other detail is good, plus the coin has few marks, XF is still warranted. From the scan I'd grade the coin XF-40, not VF-35 even though technically there is an argument for VF-35.

As for AU, well you got lucky since the coin is AU-NO WAY. Now you have to deal with the moral dilemma - thank you for the problem, PCGS. Want to sell it to me for XF-40 $$$ ?

billiardmaster

Available,
I'll bet it is not available at xf money? Looking to buy all those PCGS slabs at the lower grade you think they are over what
they are graded. No chance you can grade a coin from a picture. Strike alone does not mean much.
Rusty

BigD5

There's an awful lot of headdress feather detail, and the coin looks very sharp except for that ribbon area. It's an earlier date, and that's why it probably received a little bump. If that coin was dated post 1880 or so, it wouldn't have graded so high. My opinion. Now, what would I buy the coin for? That's a different question.

Lakesammman

Agree with Pushkin grading service - wouldn't buy at the AU level unless cherrypicking a interesting variety.....

tjkillian

Thanks for all the comments. Interesting that no one disagreed with me. I guess I'll take it back to the Long Beach show next week and have them take a look. I have several other indian cents from the same submission that I thought were undergraded. I wonder if I could take all their "mistakes" and have them redo them without having to pay AGAIN?

If I put it up for auction on eBay and told the buyers that I thought it was only an XF-40, but the professionals at PCGS thought otherwise. Who are they going to believe, me or PCGS?

The price spread on a 1869 does not vary that much between XF and AU, so the price is not that big a deal. I just wanted my money's worth by having it correctly graded and slabbed.

Tom

Elcontador

Tom, I appreciate your honesty. Agree w Pushkin. I can barely see two diamonds on that coin &
I'd expect three of them to be bold & a little wear on the 4th one for AU 55. The break in the hairline & the ribbon also preclude this from an AU grade.

If they're grading IHCs like this, you may want to submit the cleaned slider I sent you & see if comes back 64 RD

IrishMike

Tom- pop it up for sale in the Registry forum and ask au-50 prices, it will sell.

Fairlaneman

Doubt that Mike.