http://www.ebay.com/itm/1958-d-PCGS...11?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item5666cca1a3 Both sets of bell lines have severe hits that interrupt them. PCGS got this one WAY wrong.
Possibly. If the hits were actually on the coin and not on the slab then probably. Remember that PCGS designates FBL based upon the lower lines unlike NGC which bases the designation on both upper and lower lines. Or so I've heard. Goofy yes.
Technically for an FBL designation both sets of horizontal lines must be uninterrupted plus the text on the upper part of the bell must be clear also. The reverse of this half is not what I would consider MS-66 quality regardless of the toning based solely on the location and severity of the hits on the bottom of the bell.
Unfortunately, and as the other gentleman said, PCGS does not see things this way. http://www.pcgs.com/grades.html (Next to FBL, click on "more" for their definition).
I'm pretty sure those hits are on the coin itself and not just marks on the slab. I agree with you about the grade. The obverse is nice but the reverse is pretty banged up. Personally I'd put this one at a MS 64/65--NO FBL. Someone is going to overpay for that coin.
Bsowa, while I agree the coin does not deserve FBL designation, I think the final price of the coin will be determined by the toning, not the designation.
I think we are all guessing from an image of a toned coin. I'm not sure who has it wrong but I know it's tough to catch bell lines in an image.
Here's my 1958-D 66FBL graded by NGC. The 58-D is readily available with nice toning and of true 66 quality -- I hope someone doesn't get hosed on the example linked here...
What bothers me more about this particular eBay seller than anything else is his unabashed juicing of images. He has been doing it for years, and sometimes it's so obvious that it makes me cringe. He currently has a 1916-D Merc dime up for auction, and in the large images for the coin -- it is so obvious where he has circular cropped the image and juiced the image by boosting the saturation, etc. This kind of behavior is simply uncouth in my opinion. Now, I know many people who have purchased coins from greattoning and they say that the coin is always nice in hand, but I simply won't bid or even consider an item from such an auction. See screen capture shots below. I added red arrows to the close-up obverse image where you can see the relics of the saturation boost crop.
The "trick", is in getting PCGS to agree with you. (Or the buyer) I have submitted obviously overgraded coins for the regrade only to lose another $27 per coin because they didn't want to change "their opinion".
