Hello everybody, Today the postman brought me an 1917 D Type 2 quarter which i purchased recently. I do not have any SLQ's, and it is a nice type, so i thought this one would be nice for my collection. It is slabbed by NGC as MS 63. Well, i must say that it is either my ignorance of the SLQ series, or whatever, but looking at the obverse, in particular the head, it does seem rather flat. Seriously lacking detail. I am a bit dissapointed really. I thought that MS 63 anything would be a much sharper strike! Is this peculiar to this series? I have read about Fully Struck Heads, but i though a normal strike would be better than this? With this seller i can always return material, so that is not a problem. Please see the attached pics and let me know. Thank you all, Eduard
hello there. from what little i know the series does have a lot of problems took me a long time to find coin i liked. if you want a decent head shot the you need to find a coin designated as FH i had a pic posted on here http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=31324 you can see that coin it will give you an idea of what a full head looks like. hope this helps.
Eduard: The Standing Libs (both Type 1 & 2) are notorious for having flat/weak strikes. That is the reason that the TPG'ers designate the FH (Full Head) on the slabs. Also, a good reason that the FH's can and do sell for multiples of the regular strikes (like yours).
And just because it's an FH doesn't mean it's fully struck. It just means it's close. Check the shield out on many FH's and you'll see that it's often weak.
That's right. In addition to Full Head, one should look for Full Rivets around the shield. 900 posts for 900fine ! Well, 901 now...
Thanks, i guess i was expecting a bit more detail on the head for MS 63. But you guys are right, the price guides all say Full Head means double the price. If i may ask the question, is $ 300 justified for a NGC MS 63 "flat head" 1917 D like this one? Eduard
For this particular coin, that is a normal strike. Well, maybe slightly worse than normal. BUt the others are correct, finding a well struck example can be done but it will require patience and money. And don't just look to the head or the rivets. Look at them yes, but also look at all the details, the inner circle on the shield, the drapery, the detail on the blocks at each side, the feather detail on the eagle in particular the breast - everything.
Your expectations on the strike strength on a 63 were/are unrealistic. If this was a 66 or 67, I'd understand you saying what you said, but it isn't. That price is slightly on the high side, but not too bad. From the pics, the grade seems fair..Mike p.s. what others have said about the strike is correct. My recommendation is you learn a little more about a series before jumping in (or ask someone to review your coins before you order/purchase them), or missed expectations and/or disappointing coins are likely.
p.p.s. the value-conscious collector buys "almost but not quite" full head coins for non-full head prices in this series, IMO. Either that or completely hammered strikes (i.e. fully struck everywhere) and pays the FH premium.
It seems to me I just read an article in coin world on this very subject - looking for full strikes on certain types of coins. It seems to me the article mentioned cherry picking the best examples that way when the market got smarter you would be in position already to take advantage of it. Still a nice coin Eduard.
