When a soft strike makes an MS coin look AU

Higashiyama

Apologies to DLRC, but the following bust half dollar, graded MS64, has the eye appeal of a high end AU coin. If this really worth MS64 money? For my type set, I think I would search for an outstanding AU58 coin at a fraction of the cost.

MS64 Bust Half

cladking

Most of what people call eye appeal is just their overall estimation of the
grade of the coin. Many are very concerned about striks so a poorly struck
coin will have little eye appeal to them. The market has traditionally placed
much greater emphasis on whether or not the luster of a coin is worn or
damaged than on the quality of the strike, dies, planchet, surface conditions,
etc. Hence coins which some see as drab or lifeless will grade much higher
because they are uncirculated. This seems to still be true for a small majority
of collectors.

airplanenut

I wouldn't trust the image too much. A lot of their photos seem to leave something to be desired.

Nysoto

Like airplanenut says, you cannot rely on the internet image. I recently bought a draped bust half from DLRC, the color and luster was actually better than the image.

Save yourself $20,000 - buy a nice AU 55-58 that has great eye appeal, quite a few are for sale at different websites, check the "Bust Coin Trading Circle" for dealers carrying these coins.

Nysoto

This is an 1806 O.118a, the "shattered die" variety, per Overton. Note the die reverse die breaks through O in OF and through the arrows. The eagle's right wing root and opposite obverse hair ribbon is weak because of the die breaks. Interesting, but expensive.

Edited to add the strike is actually better than many draped bust halves.
You will never find a DBHE half with a perfect strike.

Higashiyama

I agree with the caveats with respect to images, especially as they regard color and luster, but usually you can get a good sense of details.

From the perspective of a type collector, isn't the following AU coin at least as desirable as the MS64 coin:


AU Bust Half

rwhite

I dont usually have a problem with early type coins w/o full strikes to be MS. Its really hard to find any open collar coins without some weakness somewhere on the coin.