Guess the grade: 1853 large cent

rhedden

This 1853 cent was one of a group that I sent to PCGS 2 years ago. They were from a huge collection that was assembled starting in the 1930's and sold to me intact in 2002.

Guess the grade..... I will later reveal what PCGS said.

1853 large cent

Additional info.: there are no hairlines or other surface problems on this coin that I can see under a bright lamp.

MacCoin

ms64RB

seanq

Man, that is one clean looking large cent. Doesn't seem to have much luster, though, at least in the pic. I'll guess MS65BN.


Sean Reynolds

grip

64BN,do to lackof luster,nice clean coin.
Al

dorkkarl

eac ms-63, pcgs ms-66 BN

K S

Dennis88

MS65RB

Dennis

Elcontador

The strike on the coin is much better than average for an 1850s Large Cent. All of the head detail is there, and so are all of the denticles on the obverse and reverse of the coin. While most stars are soft, this is typical. You don't see many fully struck Large Cents from the 1850s.

The surfaces are surprisingly clean, as well. It's clearly a BN coin, using anyone's grading standard.
I don't think PCGS would put it in a 5 holder, because I don't see any cartwheel luster. In the past, NGC put coins like this in 5 holders, but I don't think they would do it today.

I have seen a number of coins with poorer strikes and / or more contact marks in PC 5 BN holders, but they all had attractive cartwheel luster (I own one of these coins myself).

BigMoose

64RB.

Numismanic

MS63RB

Shamika

MS67RD!

Shamika

Seriously...

MS63RB. The coin has no luster (at least none that I can see).

cohodk

ms64rb

prooflike

It got bagged for previously cleaning

BigGreek

Hard to tell as far as luster but I would guess 64RB.

rhedden

"prooflike" finally hit it on the head: the coin got bagged as "cleaned." Now I just don't understand this because every other coin in that collection was graded 64 BN, 64 RB, or 65 BN. This collection was locked in a bank vault since 1930-something. Nobody messed with the coin in 70 years, and there are no hairlines whatsoever on the piece. It must have been dipped in a cleaning solution years ago, then retoned naturally to reach the condition it's in now. The toning and color look natural, but the luster is flat and lifeless. My guess is that PCGS saw a red-brown coin with no luster and just decided that there was no way such a thing could exist unless it had been cleaned at some point. I still paid the previous owner $250 for it because it's just such a nice looking piece.

If it weren't cleaned, I'm pretty sure it would have been given a 64 RB, based on my experience with submitting the other coins.

kamehameha00

64RB

prooflike

I looked at the pattern of the toning, the exposed areas toned more than the not-so-exposed areas and consistently(key point), some condition caused the exposed copper(freshly cleaned) to oxidize faster than the protected, still oxidized areas. That and the lack of luster.
Had it not been cleaned/treated, the color would probably be like that around the star's arms! Would have been really pretty.

Still a nice coin.

Merc

Nope, it doesn't look cleaned to me. Lots of RB large cents look like that. Send it in again if you wanted it graded. I also agree with 64RB.

relayer

65RB

davewang202

AU64.

Elcontador

An argument can be made re cleaning & the different hues of brown in the protected areas versus the devices, coupled with the fact that the coin appears to be Unc., but has no luster. However, much of the RB copper you see will have the remaining RD in the coin's protected areas, with the rest of its surfaces being a BN color, so the different shades of BN in itself do not mean the coin has been cleaned.

I've seen plenty of 5 BN Large Cents w/o much luster in NGC holders. PCGS wants the coin to have more luster to get in a 5 holder. Unless the colors on the images are not true, this is not a RB copper.