Lincoln Wheat Grading Question

erwindoc

Not my series so I have just a few questions to the experts....

1. What is the best way to tell a BU S mint mark that is weakly struck from a slider?
2. Can sliders be just as brilliant red as BU Lincolns?
3. Would an early album(50's era) with clear slides cause BU coins to look like they have wear on one side from the slide going back and forth to add coins? The obverse of some of the set I am looking at has coins with a little more contact on the cheek and chin, but the wheat ears look pretty good(no wear). Would these grade as uncirculated or AU?

Thanks!

shottaker

1. thats a toughie and weakly struck s mint lincolns are more subjective imho than any other coin series as to whats really new and whats not. Red browns are usually market acceptable as unc as long as theres no OBVIOUS wear. Browns are well.....subjective. Check the fields for luster and also for scuffs. A lot of wheats get a similar obverse field look in miniature to slider morgans when theyre lightly circed.

2. no not unless its been worked.

3. depends could be either. If the reverse is truly new then the coins will sell as unc unless the fronts have slide marks that are pretty nasty. Oftentimes what you are thinking is slide wear is really where the previous owner used his fingers to push the coins in to seat them before sliding the plastic cover back.

GrumpyEd

A weak S might only be from how well it was punched on the die, not to do with wear on the coin. If you mean weak (but not on the S) that's tougher. Some of those can have very weak reverses and be BU. I grade those more by the obv but yes the weak rev will limit the grade..
The plastic slides shouldn't touch the coins other than maybe the rims, I could see a hairline if the edge caught the coin but it's not going to "wear" the coin.

Color shouldn't be a judge of grade, you can have a high grade BN or RB.
If you see wear on a red cent it might be cleaned or re-colored.

ArizonaJack

Very good question, but without pics, all answers will be generic.

GrumpyEd

Just thought of a coin I had.

It was a 20-S graded 62 RD. That coins obv looked like a 64 but the rev was horrible, almost no wheat lines.
I'm guessing they dinged it a lot for that rev.

Funny thing is if it had any rub and was BN it would have probably dropped instantly from any unc grades to below XF.

ArizonaJack

Thats your typical 20's decade branch mint Ed, those are toughies