Just acquired a lovely 1831 half dime with fantastic toning. It has a old ticket stating it was Graded MS66 by NNC. I'm thinking maybe a bit optimistic. What do you think?
From those photos I'd call it MS-70 with a 300% premium for toning! Seriously, it's hard enough to grade from even well-done photos but it's impossible from these photos. That said, it's very pretty but if the toning is that nice I'd suspect AT. Not saying it is but I'd be looking pretty hard at it from that standpoint. Please post some straight-on photos that are focused and can be downloaded and enlarged as JPEGS.
Need far better Pictures but I'll tell you one thing, this is NOT a MS66. Far less of a grade. Here's just one Photo grade tool. What does she weigh? How To Grade Capped Bust Coins- Picture Grade Comparison Chart (coinauctionshelp.com)
I’ll not hazard a guess as to grade as I know very little about Half Dimes. As far as a coin goes, that is one beautiful coin.
NNC states "National Numismatic Certification, LLC. cannot guarantee the liquidity of any coin graded by NNC." This coin is not as the label says as to grade and coloring. It has light damage in the fields under the MS-70 or similar chemicals and the date coloring is odd.
This one is an MS-65, CAC. I just bought it, and I thought that it was "all there" for the grade. Getting an MS-66 on a coin from this era is exceedingly hard. Here are a couple of MS-64 graded pieces. This No Stars Seated Half Dime did get an MS-66 from NGC.
Hi there unfortunately I don't have to gear to take high quality close up photos just my Google phone. Here are a couple more straight down but they are not the best. Sorry but thanks for looking
Pretty. NNC? Never heard of them, so probably a bit high on the grade. In front of Liberty's face it looks like a few scratches based on the photo. If they aren't die polish lines, I would think it'd details grade, but I am in no way an authority. Just my opinion, which is often proven wrong!
@Lee Gilmore, thanks for the better photos. Let me preface my comments by saying that I think this coin can only be judged in hand. Issues of luster and the finer details of the higher grades just can't be determined. That said, here goes: I believe your coin is genuine. It has the correct Obverse 2 married to Reverse N for the LM-5 die marriage. The LM-5 is a Rarity 1 coin, meaning the most common. All the correct die characteristics are there except that this appears to be an early die state of the LM-5 so some of the die degradation markers are absent or so faint that I cannot be sure without a high-mag examination in hand. But I'm pretty confidant in this judgement. I think the coin is likely to be judged by a TPG as at least MS-65 and there is a possibility it could go higher depending on luster and a few other things. Again, an in-hand examination is necessary. As I said before, there is a possibility of artificial toning. There are some locations, particularly on the obverse that raise questions in my mind. Around the date and stars in particular. Plus the toning seems unusually regular to me. If this were my coin, it would be hurried off to PCGS or NGC.
I would echo the above setiments. The fact that it has sat around and not made it into an NGC or PCGS holder yet could be simply due to chance due to sitting in an untouched collection for decades. Or it could be a red flag if it's been through many hands over the years before getting to you. The TPGs can be harsh on toning. Sometimes people add substances to color the surfaces to cover up underlying problems. That may not be the case on this one as it appears to be MS condition to me and very well could have toned liked that. I've sent a lot worse to NGC than this. lol There's no reason to not take a chance and get it down there or out to PCGS asap.
To me, the luster looks washed out much closer to some of the characters in the legend, stars and the date than it should for any mint state grade. Moreover, the luster appears to break very abruptly, implying localized cleaning before retoning it to make it look original. I think this coin is an AU that has been worked on.
Thanks to you all. I bought it at Roma Numismatics and paid about $400. I was just wondering if it would be worth paying extra for grading at NGC as I bought it to for resale. From all your comments it is worth sending it in. So it will be interesting to see what grade it gets.
Hello. I am no expert either but my research leads me to believe that you made a good deal. However, the money spent on this coin was justified by its AU something price tag, not MS66 as determined by an OLD sticker. If it were me, I would have it graded,
