Good eye appeal, a bit of corrosion on both wheat stems, good semi-red luster. Depending on date and mint mark, in my opinion can be "F to MS...
Thanks to everyone who participated. I'm not a LWC guy, but I'm also in the 10-15 range on the reverse, with 12 being (what I think) a fair compromise. Now on to the "Why only the reverse?" question... @Razz hit it - It's a 22 No-D, already authenticated as a Die Pair 2 Strong Reverse by ANACS. It was straight graded a VG-8. (Cherrypicked on ebay a couple of years ago) Now for the couple of years I've owned this, while I wasn't beaming with joy over the VG-8, I was accepting of it. But just recently I was reading about the 22 No-D's, and it seems the coin is primarily graded based on the reverse, and I've always felt the reverse was decently better then 8. With 50% of the 'voters' at F-15, I'm wondering if the coin is under-graded. There is a decent value jump just from 8 to 10, and even moreso to 12 (based on sold sales on the bay). There is a huge disparity between the obverse and the reverse, and in a way I wonder if the coin was a very late/near-end-of-die-life strike? I was going to start another thread about this, but this thread has seen a bit of traffic. Here's the rest of the coin;
@PassthePuck , I think what you're calling out as 'damage' is wear. I just looked at those areas with a 10x, and there is no (physical) damage, just wear.
I have no problem with the VG8 grade. I gave some benefit of the doubt saying VG10, but the differences between 8 and 10 are very slight. F12 requires much more detail on the wheat stalks, and I don't think you'll get that if you try.
I think that is the correct grade for this coin. It is true that the reverse is the most commonly weighted way to grade this coin as the obverse die was SOOOO worn. I figured this was a 1922 No D just based on the question. For this particular coin (Die Pair 2)...which is the best one to have...the obverse holds the easiest keys for determining it as a Die Pair 2. I agree that this coin has no shot at F12. The Pair 2 is known for a sharp reverse...there is too much wear and I honestly think that VG10 might even be a stretch.
got the red book out without reading on after 1st picture. You members might want to check red book. Look at vg8 grading. Red book is all I got. I don’t know grading
Seeing how bad I'm doing guessing grades and beans in other threads I need a seeing eye dog that specializes in grading coins.
I think VG8 is correct for this coin. The 1922 No D cent obverse die (Pair 2) was basically beyond end of life. To keep it going, the mint had to heavily polish it and as a result the D was polished out (as opposed to the other die pairs where the D was just obscured). This is why there is no "weak D" varieties with die pair 2 and why you have to rely more heavily on the reverse for grading. So, going with that...have a look at the PCGS Photograde site. They tend to not use coins known for poor strikes to give a decent "average" for each grade. The Die Pair 2 No D reverse is known for a relatively sharp strike. If you compare your coin to the Photograde site...I think VG8 is a pretty close match. What they use for VG10 is definitely better than your coin. https://www.pcgs.com/photograde#/Lincoln/Grades
Hey mister Bill. Would a 22 grade higher just because the dies were not that good in the first place. What about if it was really shiny. Would they bump it up just because it was a worn die?