Your advice on this Peace Dollar appreciated

I am satisfied with the coin now that it is in hand, although there might be a bit more wear to the highest parts of Liberty's hair. I did not expect this coin to reach MS grade levels. These are the seller's photos which might be a bit flattering. I have seen many slabbed coins that do not reach this one's appearance. Would you send this one in to be certified, and how well do you think it might grade? Thanks

 

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Well the coin looks so great that the 21 viewers as of now were at a loss for words.

 

I'd rate her an XF-45 tops. Nice looking but has it been cleaned? The obverse looks like it has had a light cleaning.

 

I agree with this assessment.

Reverse is certainly strong enough for AU, but the obverse holds it back.

The lighting of the seller's pictures is wonky, and it makes it a tad hard to tell if the surfaces are original or not, but I'll err on the side of caution and say that they're not original, as is the case with a lot of 1921's. Any chance you could provide us with some different pictures?

That coin at XF-45 teeters on my value fence of "should I or shouldn't I send it in for grading?" but I think with a details grade, it may be best to keep it raw, despite the fact that like you said, a lot of slabbed examples aren't as nice.

 

Well it depends on the luster breaks and it is difficult from the photos and the lighting used. Average to soft strike on the obverse. I could see it being an AU coin. Would I send it in? I would not.

I'm attaching one that I bought just before COVID19 crap hit. I would agree that it is a high end AU. I bought it because it had eye appeal for me and the strike was better than average. I include it just for a reference.

 

It does have a strong reverse but that obverse brings it down. Personally, I'd keep this one raw unless it looks different in hand.

 

My two cents: XF-45 obv, AU-50 rev. for a number of reasons. 1. Significant wear of hair above and behind eye. 2. Abraded spot to rear of ear. 3. Lack of luster? Appears to have been cleaned. IMHO.

 

First impression = AU, not much wear, just typical strike.
I honestly can't tell if there is a cleaning from the pics, but there could be.

 

I suck at grading, particularly Peace dollars, but it does look nice and clean. Can't tell anything about the luster. Give us photos when you get it, give it a nice hot water bath followed by an acetone soak and distilled water rinse and see if that doesn't help the luster.

 

Au-50 would be my guess. I picked up a roll of these in MS the other day and can definitely say that the AU are night and day difference.

That said, the camera glare might be killing it.

 

Can you try taking pictures with different lighting? I think that many guessers here are getting thrown off by the lighting which makes it look dull - but I'm not convinced that it actually is. Additionally, the terrible strike on these is throwing people off - with different lighting, we might be able to better interpret what is wear and what is weak strike.

 

Thanks, but my picture-taking is not up to snuff, so that would be impossible. There are others, so long as they have not been taken down. Incidentally, I get the feeling that this coin just fell into this seller's lap. He's offering all sorts of knick knacks that are not at all related to coins. I suspect that's why I got it so cheap. If Vette were selling this, I'm pretty sure it would have gone for a lot more...and with no more superior photos either.

 

It doesn't appear to have been cleaned, at least as best I can tell and with thanks to @physics-fan3.14's book. There is some original luster on it, but the coin appeals to me solely on it's superior detail when compared to my other '21. I'm thinking it would fare well in the slabbed coin world, but I defer to the greater experience of this audience.

 

Much appreciated!

 

Luster is gone...agree with XF details.

 

I would go XF45. The hair is a little too worn for AU. It is a nice circulated coin. Being low on luster also takes it out of AU. Straight grade—not details.

 

XF at best, and I would vote for getting it certified. I should note that I get ALL my coins certified so that dealers won't be as likely to downgrade them for purchase from my heirs. Of course, you need to have coins worth enough to be certified, which I figure is at least $100 apiece.

 

clearly not an unc, Possibly a low AU-50.

 

Also, there are some members who have indicated in the past, that a light cleaning does not necessarily remove all the luster. Telling the difference is sometimes the difficult part of photo grading.

 

21 peace dollars can be tricking to grade. Often poorly struck wing on eagle and hair on liberty is thought to be wear. I still believe this is a nice AU coin.