GTG from sellers’ pictures #1 (Grades revealed)
hummingbird_coins
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In our increasingly digital hobby, assessing a coin’s condition from less than ideal photos is an important skill. See how close you can get to the grades PCGS assigned to these raw coins. The grades will probably be revealed sometime on Sunday. I might make another one of these posts in the future depending on how popular it is.
Coin #1: 1918 Lincoln-Illinois Commemorative Half Dollar
Note: there was a slight PVC haze that I removed before submitting it.
Coin #2: 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Commemorative Half Dollar
Coin #3: 1925 Lexington-Concord Commemorative Half Dollar
Coin #4: 1953-S Washington-Carver Commemorative Half Dollar
Coin #5: 1879-S Morgan Dollar
Coin #6: 1921 High Relief Peace Dollar
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled
Comments
Photo order fixed.
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled
MS62: 1918 Illinois 50-cent.
MS65: Huguenot-Walloon 50-cent.
MS66: 1925 Lexington-Concord 50-cent.
MS65: 1953-S Washington-Carver 50-cent.
MS65: 1879-S Morgan Dollar,
AU55: 1921 Peace Dollar.
Bump back to first page. Any other guesses?
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled
As a somewhat regular buyer of raw coins on eBay, I don’t know that any of these pics are good enough to hazard a meaningful guess on the grades. Since you (I’m assuming it was you) submitted them to PCGS, I’m guessing the coins are nice in hand. But I’m going to ignore that context and comment as though these were coins I’d just stumbled across online.
1) Looks like a BU coin that was in a manilla envelope and has contact toning from the paper. But I’ve also seen similar coloration on circulated coins. Could grade anywhere from AU to BU.
2) In the past I’ve gambled on coins with similar pics, but I don’t do so any longer. A few showed up in nice UNC condition, but I found I was equally likely to receive a cleaned piece. Could grade any variety of AU to BU, with cleaned details being a distinct possibility.
3) This one looks nice. I’d guess probably 64.
4) Another one that looks nice. I’ll guess 65.
5) I can’t tell whether or not the horizontal lines on the obverse field behind her head are scratches. For that reason, I’d pass on this coin without trying to determine a grade.
6) Full disclosure, I struggle with grading peace dollars. Having said that, don’t like the texture of the left obverse field. My gut feeling is AU, though I wouldn’t count out the possibility of a details grade.
I agree that understanding coin photos is a critical skill given how coins are bought/sold these days. The coin that is the most challenging to figure out is the Lincoln. It looks to be a coin with limited potential but I suspect the image does the coin little justice as to color. I am thinking 64.
Huguenot- MS66
Lexington-MS66
Washington/Carver 67
Morgan-67
Peace-58
I like these… and I suspect 4 of the 6 clearly are better in hand. I already expressed doubts as to the Lincoln. I just think the Peace Dollar falls short of MS- I would would like to be wrong.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
The Lincoln looks like a details coin to me; the other commems. and Morgan look original and around gem grade, though hard to put a number on them. Peace dollar rough surfaces, XF maybe AU details.
1- MS64
2- MS65
3- MS65
4- MS66
5- MS64
6- MS62
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled
I was pretty close on most of them.
The tricky one was the 1921 Peace $.
The images made the coin look a little worn.
But that type of toning pattern is sometimes associated with AU58 and UNC coins.
.
Fascinating thread. I wish I would have seen it earlier. I'd love to see another in the future.
So I was the optimistic one… not sure how different my thoughts would be with better images. In any event, it does go full circle back to the challenges of grading from images. I had higher hopes for the 79-s. Seems color played a greater role in my thoughts.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.