Can someone walk me thru grading this Lincoln

JRocco

No trick question here. Just a request. Can someone "walk me thru" grading this 96P. There are no hidden problems with this coin and I know you can't really grade with a pic, blah blah blah...now after all that is said, I would really appreciate opinions on how I should go about grading this the correct way. And please note---no opinion is wrong here--I really hope to see some of your analysis. Thanks a million in advance.

coinlieutenant

Good pics.

Lincoln has a little melanoma he needs to take care of !!

I would walk you thru but there are people much better at lincolns than me.

mgoodm3

Where's coppercoins when you need him?

I think the grade may be limited by strike on the obv. Not full strike on the hair.

coppercoins

Sure..

Obverse - I see some marks on the eyebrow, not sure what they are but they look like friction of some sort. One point from 70. What looks like a hit on the rim at 8:00 will take another. As for strike, it's typical. You're missing a bit of hair in the center of the head, for good measure I'd take another point. Altogether a 67 obverse.

Reverse - I see spottiness from the planchet wash in the T of CENT and around the D of UNITED. That's a point. Honestly I cannot see anything else from the photos that would detract from a perfect grade. I'll call the reverse a 69.

Overall the coin does appear to meet 68 criteria IF the blemishes on the forehead aren't as ba as they appear in the photo...that is, if the photo is exaggerating them, it's a 68. If the photo is showing a problem as it is, I'd have to go down to 67.

coppercoins

<< <i>Where's coppercoins when you need him?

I think the grade may be limited by strike on the obv. Not full strike on the hair. >>



I were here, typing my answer...

kieferscoins

Don't forget your designations gentlemen. It is Red (RD). I grade it MS-67RD.

Cameron Kiefer

mgoodm3

I'm glad you have not forsaken us, oh master of Lincoln.

coppercoins

<< <i>Don't forget your designations gentlemen. It is Red (RD). I grade it MS-67RD.

Cameron Kiefer >>



Umm, yeah...I figured anyone with two eyes that can see could pick that part out, and I'm lazy.

kieferscoins

Your not lazy, but a designation may not be visible for a beginner asking to grade a lincoln cent.

Cameron Kiefer

Baley

Gem BU

JRocco

Another question if I may. There is some very distracting spottiness on the reverse and some on the obverse under LIBERTY. Is this something that can be addressed with acetone or some other noninvasive method? And thanks C.D. for that great step by step analysis.

coppercoins

I have found that usually anything that spots copper can never be removed to a point that you can't tell it was there...not unless it's something minor that is just on top of the surface and hasn't affected the copper underneath, which is rather unlikely.

dorkkarl

for me, it's ms-63. period. no color desingations, full-bands, blah blah blah.

why just ms-63? simple, by today's standards, ms-63 represents an "average unc". your coin looks like the average unc i would expect to see in any typical roll of 1996 lincolns.

that's the quickest sure-fire lesson you'll ever get on grading modern unc coins. 95% are ms-63, since that's the "average" unc grade.

of course, if it's way above average in terms of luster, eye-appeal, etc., those factors don't show up in a digi-pic, & you'd have to adjust the ms-63 upwards appropriately.

K S