Morgan - MS-62 Lots of bag marks but no wear Jefferson - MS-65 FS well worn dies Roosevelt - MS-66 nice mottled toning
Yea sorry about the slab glare....I am still testing a new lighting setup. works great on the toned coins, but I've been getting glare that I didn't used to.
#1 63 #2 66 #3 64 Rationale: #1- Lots of dings and the like, although someone pointed out that some of that is die cracks, so I may have been to critical. #2- I'm not very good with nickels, all I know is that obverse is quite nearly immaculate, and the back is pretty scratched. In the past I've found the reverse condition has less adverse effects on the grade than the obverse, so I'm guessin they might work out to 66. I'm probably too high on this though #3- Is the reverse weakly struck? The letters look pretty mushy... in that case I have great difficulty trying to set a grade to this. If I remember correctly (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong because I very well could be), but weakly struck specimens tend to have more leeway and are graded with their 'handicap' in mind? I went 64 for the great obverse and alright reverse, although my interpretation of weakly struck could really just be wear, in which case this is low MS or perhaps AU IMO Man... I'm going to be struggling with this a lot im sure... :S
1878 - looks like more chatter than I usually see on 63's,,,, so would grade it as MS62, and then +1 for my tendency to be conservative... so back at MS63. 1940D - Nice looking coin, looks as FS as FS can be.. a few nicks here and there that are not too distracting, luster appears to be there in spades. My guess would be 65FS due to the nicks... I'll let it stand there this "once" just to try and baseline myself with my grading and my +1 routine.... standing pat at 65FS. 1956 - man I have a hard time grading these... I see very little wrong with this coin, maybe a bit of weak strike on the reverse and uber minor nics on obv, and appears to have a very pleasing tone.. I'll guess 65 for the weak strike, +1 for ngc... so 66 it is.
Great turn out so far....I will be away for a couple days, but I will check in to answer any questions.
I think your thread will have some very informative value , especially for New Collectors . I would like to point out though , there is no substitute for using a loupe and physically having the coin in hand , which could drastically have an affect in how one apply's the grading factors . That said, I look forward to following the thread.