I've never hosted a "guess the grade" type session so I thought I would make my first and ask cointalk what they think the grades on these two pieces are. Note: As as a hint I can tell you neither coin grades a very fine or lower!
I'll go with 62 for the drachma and 66 on the lira. I have a different year of that lira and I love the design. Yours is much nicer.
AU58 on drachma...I see rub on the cheek. MS65 on the lira -- I would say it has a shot at 66, but I see what looks like abrasion across Vitorio's brow...hard to tell from the pictures. Based on those photos, that's probably the best struck example of this type I have ever seen. Both great designs!
I was able to find my country cousin to your lira, it's the 2 Lira and not nearly as nice but honest color to it.
There aren't any breaks in luster on the drachma. What you see is just a bit of dark toning. With that said I'll wait for a few more replies and post results tonight One more hint- Both coins are MS. No one is correct thus far!
Fair enough. I can't tell what else may be under the toning with the particular type of photography used on the drachma. If I had to guess though (just knowing how hard these are to find in true MS) I'd guess MS62, or MS63 max.
PS -- I'm just now noticing several green spots on the reverse of the Lira...I hope those were removed before the coin was slabbed/graded. Seems to be a line of green spots through the legs of the horses of the quadriga...
I'm not sure what the spots are. They might be verdigi but it doesn't matter. They aren't even visible with a loop and as long as its stored correctly the verdigi remains inactive. The problem is perfection is hard to find with these coins so I'm going to have to make due with what I can astutely obtain
Nice coins! The Greek one has only minimal signs of weak strike, which is a very nice bonus for this type.
Nope! I would break it out as soon as I got it home regardless of the number grade. I hate slabs and the whole culture of slabbing Well ok. MS 95 on the Italy and MS 87.275 on the Greek
Well when you say "both coins are MS" it implies they have been slabbed. I mean I personally agree with that, but people usually make these threads to cross-check the TPGs or if they generally are not sure.
Maybe I'm seeing things, but the Drachma looks to be in a PCGS slab -- at least I think I can see a bit of the clear wide prongs holding the coin around the edges.
Your two coins are fantastic. I have never seen the Italy coin with such details. From the photos I would grade the Italy coin MS66 and the Greek MS65. Of course I'd love to have the two coins in-hand to grade.
Okay Everyone Grades are as follows Lira: MS 66(Easily a 67 coin graded all day long by the TPG's lax standards) Drachma: In an MS 63 PCGS holder
The lira needs some work to remove those green spots. It is a lovely coin, but I would be very surprised to see it in an MS67 graded holder at either NGC or PCGS. I think it has a real shot at MS66, but only if the abrasion across Vittorio Emanuelle's forehead is minimal (hard to tell from the images). It's one thing to say that it's "Easily a 67 coin graded all day long" and something completely different to actually submit the coin and get that grade. Some of the best learning experiences I have had in world coins were submitting and seeing how well my opinion of a coin matched with that of a consensus of 3 world coin graders at a major TPG. In the end, the difference between an MS66 and MS67 coin is irrelevant, as long as you are happy with the coin -- and based on those pics, I would be VERY happy with that example of the Lira as a type coin. Congrats!
