1844 O Half dollar
gumby1234
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Any opinions as to the grade
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I would have to look at cartwheel luster and fields closely to convince me it was not altered surfaces.
Whizzed.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
@davewesen the third photo kind of shows the luster.
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@DelawareDoons not whizzed. It has cartwheel luster front and back.
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yes, but I would have to rotate it under light to see if it was complete and natural. It looks like the small nicks and scuffs have mostly been removed.
It is whizzed, trust me.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
My immediate reaction was cleaned (whether it's whizzed instead is beside the point). I'm struggling to think of what kind of lighting would make the lustre band shown in the 3rd photo on a coin with natural surfaces. It looks off.
My photo skills are improving but still horrible. I will try to get some angled shots that show luster.
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Maybe these will help. Its hard to capture the luster
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Looks whizzed to me. Regardless, I don't believe that is mint luster.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Sadly I’m in the whizzed camp too. The few that I have seen have kind of a poor man’s cartwheel luster that is much wider and more diffuse than a unmessed with Uncirculated or high AU coin. Given the surface granularity and the fact that it’s a little slidery on the wear side, this was probably a product of the pre certified Wild West era in an attempt to pass it off as BU. JMHO
Eagles leg is pretty fully struck but neck feathers are worn. Unfortunately, given the wear pattern, it is most likely a (pretty good) whizz job. Would have to see in person to be 100% sure, but that's my guess. Still a nice coin, especially if the price was right. Not many of these made it through the decades completely unscathed.
Aercus Numismatics - Certified coins for sale
Ok so my understanding of a coin thats whizzed is that in the protected areas of the coin it will have a different look. Also there would be many scratches going in the same direction as well as some pushed up metal on the lettering. I took a few close up shots and don't see any of these indicators.
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in this case, most likely the entire coin front/back is whizzed. this is done purposefully to make the coin appear high-grade. we've seen MANY on this forum of all types. normally this is done so harshly it pushes the edges of the devices up past the top a bit creating a bit of a rim on almost every edge of raised metal.
i dont really see that on this coin but it really does look whizzed. i'll go 95% whizzed and 5% not, ONLY because i've been fooled by images a couple times this year, much to my chagrin.
My first thought was whizzed as well.
2nd photo in the 2nd set of pics shows it. Whizzed coins show what I’d call linear luster as opposed to a luster halo which you’d expect to see on a coin struck in a collar.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
My first thought was that it looked wrong.
Sorry to say whizzed
"That's why I wander and follow La Vie Dansante"
Absolutely wizzed as mr Bush said. The halos around the stars and grainy surfaces is the giveaway. Wizzing is intended to impart fake luster
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
YOur closeups are very helpful as they show the fine graininess all over the devices and the fields; clearly mechanical alteration of the surfaces with whizzing the most likely method.
Do a search on ebay for whizzed, lots of examples in TPG plastic designating them as whizzed.
Edited to add, whizzing is one of my most despised forms or alteration. Cleaning can be explained by lack of knowledge, whizzing is an intentional act to deceive.
It is a typical AU coin that has been whizzed. The coin has wear that the whizzing attempts to cover up. Many Seated Liberty half dollars suffered this fate in the 1970's and 1980's.
I agree with the 'whizzed' evaluation.... Not typical mint luster. The entire surface has been done with a very soft buffer. Cheers, RickO
It does look whizzed. Can you take a video of it and rotate it under a light for us to see?
@coinJP i took video but it won't let me post it here
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I most likely can text it to somebody if they want to PM me a phone number.
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Really sorry to see you get one of those. As many have said, no doubt whizzed.
Someone said linear luster. I always called it flat, even, machine-like luster. Once you start to look you'll see the machine like patterns.
These fully whizzed coins used to be seen with more frequency back in the late 80's and early 90's. Until you've had one in hand and really studied it against a full luster Gem, it can seem like they are the same. But I have never seen a whizzed coin look quite the same as a natural full luster coin, and I've seen some pretty high quality whiz jobs.
Something that became just as common, and are often times harder to detect are partially whizzed coins. This was done to take off marks or damage, or hide slight wear on an otherwise near Unc/Unc coins. You have to consider this was long before AU55 and 58 was a grade to be happy about in most cases. Only small parts of the surface are whizzed or otherwise tooled, and if you aren't paying attention, these can be hiding in plain sight.
Kind of like knifing of FB's and tooling of FH's ... those coins are still out there, although usually you'll find them raw now. Educated sellers won't send them in, and the unscrupulous may have cracked them out.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
You need to have it hosted first.
Take another uncirculated half dollar and rotate it around under the light out of the holder. Then do the same with this half. The difference should be instantly discernible, especially the “cartwheel” effect of the other ms half.