Post Your Franklins!

This is the rest...

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

@tk: Nice blue/golden toning on the '56 above!

 

1954

 

A pair I just got back from NGC today.

 

I meant to put this one up here the other day when I got it. My 1952-S



Then I got this one today as an upgrade...

 

Can't recall if I have posted this already... couldn't find it in this thread:
1963 PCGS MS65 FBL

 

I have a question: How is this coin considered "mint state" with all the discoloration? Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely coin and I'd be proud to own it, but it obviously doesn't look like it did when it came to a mint. Why is discoloration considered OK but the tiniest bit of wear considered bad? I only own two slabbed coins, a NGC 1958 PF-67 nickel and an ICG 1960 MS-65 large date penny, and both look like they just left the mint. Toning is cool and can make coins look neat, but I don't see why it isn't considered a demerit when it comes to the condition of the coin.

I don't know much about grading so I hope somebody can enlighten me. I want to be educated.

 

I want to preface my response with: I do not collect toned coins. I too have only 3 slabbed coins and I prefer most of mine raw. However, I think when grading this particular coin they were looking for luster and if it is broken, wear pattern, strike/contact marks, among other things. Overall the coin has beautiful luster and the strike is certainly above average and even received FBL. The toning is natural and overall the coin has clean fields and very few marks, hence the MS 65 grade. I may be wrong, so correct me if I am, but I think you are using tone or "discoloration" as an indication of grade and that is not necessarily the case for all coin series.

 

[

 

dwhiz, now you are just showing off.

 

"If you got it...Flaunt it" I heard this in the movie "The Producers" great flick

 

Mint state does not mean that the coin looks exactly like it did the day it was minted. The qualification for mint state is that the coin can't have any physical wear. As for your slabbed coins, they may look like, but are not exactly like they were when they left the mint. The toning process begins as soon as the coin is minted. You might not be able to discern the toning with your eyes, but the doesn't mean the toning layer is not there.

The system of grading used by the TPG's is called market grading which has four different elements: surface preservation, strike, luster, and eye appeal. Toning has the ability to enhance or detract from they eye appeal of a coin. When you see a coin with mottled charcoal/russet toning that mutes the luster of the coin, it will often lead to a lower overall grade despite the surfaces or strike. If that same coin displayed vibrant rainbow toning, it is possible that the coin could be graded several points higher.

Your basic mindset right now mirrors Weimar White's who believes that all toning is "chemical wear" and should be treated the same as physical wear thereby lowering the grade. White goes so far as to declare acid dips as the cure for toning claiming that the dip only removes the sulfide layer (chemical wear) from the surface of the coin. My advice is to abandon this line of thought and seek to understand better the system of market grading that is widely accepted in the numismatic community.

The simplest answer to your question is that eye appeal is an element of coin grading.

 

Couldn't have explained it better than dimeguy and Lehigh

 

After seeing dwhiz's Dansco set, I got mine out of the vault to look at it again. It is a mixed set of circulated, Unc, & 4 Proofs. I need a 1959 Proof for my NGC registry set, so I may send in this one that is in my Dansco. Then get an UNC for the Dansco.

 

Last Thurs & Friday I saw some Franklin Halfs on eBay. The group of 5 pic was a little blurry and just listed as " High Grade " . I thought they looked better than UNC. I watched the last 5 minutes of the auction. NO body was bidding. In the last 5 seconds, I placed my bid, and WON with NO other bidders. Five "Proof" Franklins came in yesterdays mail. $10 each with $7.02 (each) silver value per CoinFlation.

On Friday, I won a 1956 Type2 & a 1959 (Proofs).
The scratch on the 1956 pic is on the plastic holder not the coin.