Grading of a weak struck buffalo

So i purchased this guy from a local coin shop, listed as an AU-55. thought it still had some very nice luster, even if an AU. I'm very new to the buffalo collection and to me, it may appear that the reverse areas on the horn and front of the hair are from a weak strike? I've done a little research on the common weak struck dates and the 1935 doesn't show up.


So, i'll leave if up to you guys to help me decide.

 

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It looks XF to me, the horn is too well defined for it to be that weakly struck.

 

i'm having a hard time understanding the rationale behind an XF grading? please elaborate.


here is a reverse of a PCGS grade MS64

note: this is of a different year, and i'm not assuming the grade of my coin to be MS64, simply tried to find a quick image from PCGS's photograde just to illustrate what I noticed in the horn and head area.

 

By definition an AU-55 should have nice luster.

 

I think it would depend on which side of the bed the grader got out of that day. I could see a 58 or I could see a 63. And I do not see that much weakness in the strike.

 

Based on a study by Ron Pope, who has studied over 350,000 buffalo nickels since 2001, the 1935 issue is scare with weak strikes.

Of almost 4,000 1935's studied, only 3% were minted with a weak strike. 62% had average or typical strikes, 35% had good strike and only .3% had a full strike.

For the whole series, weak strike comprised only 6.6% or twice the amount of the 1935. Typical strike for the series is 47.3%, good strike is 41.9% and full strike is 4.3%

 

Hey Bob,

Is this study public information; If not, where would I be able to locate this?