Anyone want to GTG??

I don’t do grading or numi stuff but I’m trying to learn. I have an idea what I’d grade this 1948 D Franklin as but would love to see what some of you experts have to say. Anyways, if you don’t want to grade it, please enjoy the pictures anyway. Thanks for looking.

 

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Maybe MS-60? Uncommon flatness in the eagles wings.

 

I’m trying to get a better pic but I think the angle makes it look that way...maybe this is a little better?

 

I think that was a fair grade, ms with visible wear at top of bell, eagle, and behind franklins ears. with nice luster, couple of blemishes?

 

Im not an expert, just what I see.

 

My guess would be AU 53.....Ben's tresses have some not insignificant wear on them, there are marks scattered about on his face and in the field.
The reverse is somewhat of a similar story.....the bell lines are mostly visible with some wear. What I like most on the reverse is the deepness of the crack signifying the first ringing. What I'm wondering about is the die chip? contact mark? on the lower left side of the bell, between the two rows of parallel bell lines.
Plus there are various contact marks on both the bell and the field.

AU 53

 

I'm seeing more like an XF 45. I see shoulder and cheek wear in additon to @Hookman 's notes.

Add a couple more. Visible 'dot' between A and L in HALF on reverse. And a die chip? between bell hangar and E in UNITED on reverse.

 

Of course, you are correct, Sir, about that wear.
However, what you see as a possible chip, I see as a possible contact mark/damage.
What do you think that mark is "... on the lower left side of the bell, between the two rows of parallel bell lines."?
I'm not sure myself.

 

Chip is only based on one single pic. No way for me to say chip with any certainty. That's why I put the question mark after 'die chip?'. Not sure what it is. Maybe some other pix with varying lighting & angles?

 

Same here.

 

XF45

 

EF? I am not sure if we are looking at the same photos.

With a great deal of luster in the fields, and no rub on Franklin’s cheek, I would grade this piece mint state. It’s got a lot of little ticks and a few spots, so I would say MS-63.

When I was young, I found these coins and the Washington Quarter had to grade because the portrait has so little hair detail. The smoothness might make you think it’s worn when it’s not. Ditto for the little eagle. It never had much detail in its feathers.

 

I'm not that interested in grades, but I have a complete collection of Franklins, and I'm pretty sure this one is not MSx; more like the XF @masterswimmer awarded it.

 

I’m also surprised by the EF guesses.
Maybe I’m missing some wear and it’s a high AU, but my first thought was also MS 63.

 

Here is a link to the PCGS Photograde site for Franklin Half Dollars.

https://www.pcgs.com/photograde/#/franklin/grades

And here are photos of the EF-45 coin on that site. I think that the OP coin is better than this.

 

I agree with John this coin should not be below a mid AU. Although it looks like it has good luster, I am leery to give this a MS grade. It has one heck of a strike Pass and Stow on the bell is readable. The Bell lines look good. What I am having trouble seeing is what are bag marks and possibly wear on the obv.
I am at AU58

 

This coin is probably one of those AU-58 / MS-63 coins. It's hard to grade it exactly without a personal look. My MS-63 estimate was done on a iPad, is was probably a bit generous. Still, when I was dealer, certified examples of these coins were all over the map. Sometimes the pieces in MS-64 and even 63 holders were better than the pieces in MS-65 holders.

Here's one I bought many years ago for a birth year set. Yes, I'm old. In 1989 this was a "Gen Uncirculated." I am financially buried in this one no matter how you grade it.



Here is the 1949-P from that set. It is an AU-58 slider that was rescued from junk silver.



And here is the 1949-D. I sold this one for good money. It is interesting to note that during the 30 + years that I have been messing with this year set that the 1949-P, 1949-D and 1949-S have all swapped places as to which one of the coins was the "top dog" in the Franklin set. When I bought the this 1949-D, it was the third 1949 dog. When I sold it, it was the top dog. The "BU" 1949-S half dollar once sold for over $300 in the 1980s.

 

58

 

Wow! There are some varying evaluations for sure. Now I have no idea. I would have thought it was around an AU, possibly low MS.

Also the coin from the guide is for sure in worse shape with much more wear than my coin so I don’t think it would grade out XF45. You can still read the wording on my bell and the bell lines are way stronger. They are non existent on the XF45 example. Also my obverse has a lot more detail in the hair and look at Bens chest in both examples. It’s not even close.

Thanks for all the input though...maybe I’ll drop this off at the next coin show coming up and see what it actually grades at just for fun. But this is exactly why I don’t do the numi game and only stack coins for silver as it’s too objective and opinionated. I mean XF45-MS63 is a big spread!

 

Also just noticed you can’t even start to read the wording on the bell until around AU 58 according to the PCGS grading guide. Thought that was interesting.

I wonder why the crack in my bell is so deep as well? Most of the examples I see have very faint cracking even on the very high grades.