Received grades.... still can't figure out how to grade Peace Dollars - UPDATED WITH PICTURES!

Geoman

Just got some grades in here and I still can't grade Peace Dollars. The 1928-S I thought was a MS-63 (came back AU55) and the 1934-D I thought was a MS63 (came back MS61). A couple of gold pieces on there were what I expected - both AU.

I even bought up PCGS graded Peace Dollars graded AU through MS64 this past summer to put together my little own "grading set" to become more adapt ad grading Peace Dollars - I see that didn't help much. I'll post some photos when I get them back and maybe some experts here can chime in with their opinions on what I missed.

Edited to add pictures of the 2 coins, as I have received them back from PCGS.

guitarwes

That 28-S must be a real stunner slider.

sorry for your dissapointments.........

Geoman

I received the coins back from PCGS, and I took a couple of quick photos last night. Looking back on my notes, I see that I originally felt both the 1928-S and the 1934-D Peace Dollars were MS63's. The 1928-S came back AU55 and the 1934-D came back MS61. I am not the best at taking pictures yet, but here they are below. I guess I need to figure out what I am missing. Any ideas?

1928-S Peace Dollar PCGS AU55


1934-D Peace Dollar PCGS MS61

Geoman

Here are the slabs.

sweetwilliet

That 34-d looks very nice, I'd have graded it better than a 61 from the pics, but hey, what do I know?

plansim

On the 28-S there appears (as good as I can judge from the photos) to be wear on the cheek. It can be discerned if you compare the area immediately below the eye with the area further down the cheek. The latter is flat and dull, as opposed to the former which has some luster.

The '34 has kinda flat hair details.

Perhaps these are the factors that the graders used in assigning their numbers.

clackamas

<< <i>That 34-d looks very nice, I'd have graded it better than a 61 from the pics, but hey, what do I know? >>



Is that a scratch @ 9 O'Clock? If so the MS61 grade is warranted. Sometimes the type of mark matters.

Mercury

Flat hair details on both coins. The 28-S also has wear on the cheek and to many marks in the field in front of Liberty's face, there is also a good hit on the eagle's wing.
Same with the 34-D chatter on the cheek and the fields in front of her face. In my opinion the cheek and field are looked at very hard in the Peace Dollar series because any marks here really distract from the overall look of the coin.

rbalderman1

Sorry, if you feel disappointed. The top has that issues on the cheeks down through neck. I would say PCGS nailed these right on.

Geoman

Is that a scratch @ 9 O'Clock? If so the MS61 grade is warranted. Sometimes the type of mark matters.

Nope, that mark is on the holder. I just can't seem to grade Peace Dollars!

greghansen

The 28-S does appear to have a bit of field chatter, especially in front of the face. If the field chatter suggests even brief circulation vs. bag marks, my experience is these are going to go down to the AU grades regardless of the luster, strike or other qualities of the coin.

Looks like they got a little bit rough with the '34-D. They don't like contact marks on the cheek and looks like you got 2-3 good sized contact marks caused by the reeded edge of another coin and you got a pretty good ding at the bottom of the eagle's tail on reverse. They don't like that either. Could have easily gone MS62 IMO from the images shown.

Peace Dollars are tough to grade in general. Until your pretty confident I would stay away from coins where there is a big swing between one point grades. These two coins are a good example of risky coins to buy raw. There is a $250-300 difference between MS61 & MS63 grades for these coins. The MS63 is about 3X more valuable than an MS61 in each date. There are many dates in the Peace series where the value difference between MS61 & MS63 grades are well under $100 and often under $50. those are the dates you want to go through the 'learning curve' on. Otherwise it gets to be a bit of an expensive education.