Got one of my first large cents today Just wondering what everyone would grade this at? I'm super excited and I think it's a nice looking coin.
Grading large cents can be difficult because the strike quality was all over the place. To determine the amount of wear, you first need to have a decent understanding of how much detail was present when the coin was struck. On the braided hair cents the rim, stars and denticles are the best indicators. This looks like a relatively well struck coin with most detail still intact. I'd call it a VF-35.
VF30. Decent strike, but missing some detail in the lower hair and the central wreath leaves that I'd want to see on an decently struck XF coin.
I like it as well as most large cents they are pretty cool. I only have one myself and bought it several years back from a CT member and I still love it. I would grade yours I think she's an XF40 weak strike and that's seen a lot on large cents and wouldn't knock it down to VF 35 in my opinion.
Thanks for the answers! I've actually learned a lot from them. I also love the color just a little red peaking through.
Looks like a newcomb N17, which is a common variety. The early die state often have low spots on the hair and bust over the date, as is seen on this example. These make the coin a bit harder to grade, as those hair details are a high spot and the amount of detail left is a useful indicator of wear. That detail was never struck up on your coin, so we have to look elsewhere. The coronet is another good point to look for wear. The L in Liberty is one of the first letters to wear, and as the wear is just touching the top of that L, I think the the coin is higher than a vf 20. There does not appear to be much hair separation in the hair above the ear, but there is separation between the hair just below and to the right of the Ear. I would put this coin in the vf 25 or vf 30 range by EAC standards, and it appears to have very nice surfaces, even original toning and no major marks. I find TPGs tend to be around 10 points higher then EAC on these middle of the road grades, so I could see this in a vf35 or xf40 holder, but I would call it a straight 25 with no deductions, average plus for the grade.
That is a very good post on this subject. I have seen few post in grading large cents on this site and to see an educational one is refreshing.
This guy has a great EAC grading guide: http://early-copper.com/grading.html Multiple coins for each grade, showing the difference. These are EAC grades, third party graders are going to be higher, but if you want to see strict wear grading standards, instead of market grading, this is a great resource.
Just got the coin today. I'm happy with it. Looks better in hand than these photos Might have weak striking in parts but overall it is missing all those small nicks that a lot of these have
