GTG: 1928 Hawaiian Commemorative

Tell me what you think it graded as (and yes, there's luster that the pics aren't showing so well):

 

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Shoot. That one set you back a few shekels Kirk. Still on my 'to get list'. Yours looks lovely, with some pleasing color depending on how you rotate the coin. I'm in at '65...........

 

That is a very cool looking commemorative! I feel like it's a 64.

 

I'm adding 2 more photos. They are after the slab was polished, and then I shot at f/2.8, which gives me little to no depth of field, which threw anything on the slab out of focus enough to make it nearly invisible. I also made no adjustments other than brightness and contrast. Also was able to make them a bit larger (click to enlarge).

Once I reveal the grade, you'll understand why I'm trying to give you folks the sharpest and most realistic photos I can.

 

MS64 or MS65

 

64

 

Nice coin ,I'm at 63

 

AU58

 

AU 55

...my first thought was MS, but I see virtually no marks; something about the coin doesn't seem right for a 65 and I believe that is wear. So I will say this is a nice example of an AU coin.

 

AU 58
Isn't this considered a rarer one?

 

Yep! It's the key date to the series. I'm overly stoked!

 

Here are the high points for the Hawaiian:

I'm not seeing wear myself, so I'm going to go MS64.
Not sure if I'm right or not. At any rate, it is beautiful and a cap in your series.

 

62

 

I looked earlier and debated the high AU idea, but think I will guess 63.

 

And the grade is...?

 

The grade may surprise you all. I did a GTG on two forums, and nobody recognized it as being a cleaned coin. I posted the second set of photos in case the first set was throwing people off, but you all still graded it straight. I also sent the original huge photo files to 2 members here (and 1 on another forum) to see if they could see anything indicative of a cleaning. Nobody could find anything.

I went yesterday to my local dealer, with the grade taped over (so as not to sway his grade), and asked him to evaluate and grade the coin. He looked at it for a long time, then finally looked up and said "AU Details - Improperly Cleaned". I asked him what he saw that made him say it was improperly cleaned, and he said there are no hairlines, or other indicators that are obvious, but he felt the color of the metal was just a hair off, and the cartwheel luster is there, but not 'in your face' type of cartwheel, leading him to believe that at some point in the past (his guess was 20-40 years ago), it was probably dipped and not rinsed correctly.

He felt the UNC grading was justifiable, albeit a true slider that slid over to the MS/UNC side.

And the slab -

 

Well...I think for a details coin it is still a nice one
I couldn't see anything indicative in the photos of cleaning. Great grading exercise!

 

That's worth another submission.

 

The luster isn't there - probably over-dipped beyond the MS-62 level. Good pickup and great coin to fill an expensive hole.