Thoughts on the grade of this 1951 Half Crown?

GritsMan

Would like your opinion--with advance thanks!

1951 Matte Proof Half Crown

OldEastside

OK I'll bite, say PR61

Steve

JCMhouston

Images are really to small to say, but I believe both TPG's tend to dramatically undergrade matte proofs.

wybrit

IMO the grade is essentially irrelevant for a piece like this since it is extremely rare.

7Jaguars

I can blow this image up on I-phone and see no marks or gashes or damage which I feel put it at a minimum 63
What would get it a higher grade is if there are not "wipe hairlines" which seem to be the problem for nearly all of the coins from
the '02 set.
If very faint but see a few gen 64.
If faint but scarce should be poss 65
I have not personally seen a matte above that level IMO.

Best in hand but this one looks good minimum 63 as high as 65
Is this the 2/6 from the ex-Pretoria mint collection (or do you know?)
That coin was proly 65 & was nicer than the ex-Norweb 1937 2/6 that is in NGC63 & should prob be a 64 itself. IMO these are NOT that tough to grade and agree with Jeff's surmise.

Hope that helped a bit.
PS As Wybrit says this is extremely rare and somewhat fewer of the low denominations made than the crown coins.

coinkat

better pictures are required to offer any reasonable opinion

7Jaguars

Try I-phone as resolution is pretty good as you blow up to a large image so adequate in my view.

GritsMan

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I just love this coin, but it looked a lot nicer than what it is graded, so I wanted to double-check just how much or little I know about grades!

coinkat

I do not have any late Matte proof issues- Unfortunately, I do not recall seeing any either. The 1902 Matts are tougher in higher grade. I have 2 1902 Cowns graded 64- one by NGC and the other by our hosts and I look them wondering what it takes to get a 65-

wybrit

Late matte proofs were struck primarily to facilitate photography, according to the Coincraft reference work. By comparison, 1902 is as common as sand.

7Jaguars

Indeed the subject coin may be one of only two or three and it may be from the Pretoria mint which dumped it's enormous collection of proofs and patterns in the early to mid-nineties at what were reputed to be firesale prices.

For some reason the crowns of 1951 show up in matte with a bit more frequency.
I wonder if Rob P. could weigh in with some more tidbits...

coinkat

I did not mean to imply the 1902 are rare in terms of avaiablity, just in high grade 65 and higher and a measure as to Matte grading