Grades posted (circ. "O" mint half dimes)
rhedden
Posts: 6,630 ✭✭✭✭✭
Here are four Liberty Seated half dimes from my collection. All of them are housed in PCGS straight-grade holders. No tricks with Genuine/Details holders, etc. The same point-and-shoot camera and same lighting were used for each photo. Guess the grade on each, and I will reveal them later.
1) 1840-o With Drapery
2) 1840-o No Drapery
3) 1842-o
4) 1853-O No Arrows
2
Comments
Talk about a PhD course in grading notorious weakly struck O mints trying to grade them by photos. Curse you Rhedden for making me (and maybe others) look stupid in our own areas.
I think they could all be AU's....and I guess they could all be XF's too. But these photos aren't giving up the luster secret very easily. 1840-0 WD has always been my favorite half dime for over 40 yrs.
55
45
50
53.
55, 50, 45, 35
I should add one bit of information. Three of the four coins were graded in the 2006-2008 era. One of them resides in a 2015 era holder. I don't want to say which one, though, because I believe that it would influence peoples' grades. Just assume they were graded by the same standard, as the coin in the newer holder does not seem to be graded liberally at all.
55
40
50
55
55
50
50
55
WOW......baby Dimes are hard to grade. These grades are all high to me. I would call the 53-O a VF20.... 25 at best.
55
50
40
30
58
50
40
35
Cheers, RickO
I'll go with 55, 45, 45, 45
This thread was a little surprising, as my GTG threads usually end up with guesses that are lower than the grades on the slabs. Here are the results: four VF35 grades. The "O" mint half dimes are difficult to grade because they are inconsistently (and often weakly) struck, as roadrunner pointed out. I have to wonder if something about this batch of photos pushed the grade guesses higher? Note to self: take all future photos with this lighting and camera.
Thanks to everyone who was brave enough to enter a guess!
Out of these, the one coin that I think was undergraded for certain was the 1840-o No Drapery (second from top), which I see as an XF45. I can see the 1840-o WD as being an XF details coin that was netted down to VF35 because it has uneven secondary toning and was likely cleaned in the past. 1842-o has enough wear to call it VF35, but the eye appeal is quite good for this grade due to the colorful toning. 1853-o NA has claims to XF40, and it has remaining luster under original skin. This issue is notorious for weak strike, especially around the date.
Time to tighten my grading standards again!
That's what PCGS says every time I make a submission of half dimes.
Thank you for the interesting post. I also collect seated half dimes. Although I'm not good at grading, I think your 40-O ND and 53-O NA are undergraded. I would go 45 and 50 respectively.
Weren't those coins submitted together some time ago where they could have "helped" each other to lower grades? Luster on weakly struck O mint half dimes has to get one thinking about XF45 to AU grades. Luster on VF35's these days is certainly stretching things.....that was pretty normal 40 years ago. The first 1853-0 NA I ever bought was part of a larger auction lot of half dimes. I figured the coin as mid-VF and let 'er go to a dealer friend....who proceeded to get solid XF money for it.
I think they were graded in four different batches. 1853-o NA came from Brian Greer, and 1840-o WD came from the BST forum. 1840-o ND was submitted by me, and it was the only coin in that (large) submission that got a really low grade. 1842-o came from a fourth source. I think the only coin that truly got hosed out of the bunch was the 1840-o ND. I am thinking that something about my photos triggered a positive response from the board members, though I did not intend it that way.