… this coin was very difficult to photograph the obverse. As it hits the light its a very toned PL surface.
Woah that last picture is a killer. Lovely coin! I find that the grayish yellow toning subdues the luster too, so I usually avoid those coins because they are so bad in the photo station.
My guess is it does not say "Uncirculated" on the GSA holder. These coins were graded by mostly college studends who got a crash course on grading these dollars. They were either "Uncirculated" and so marked or plain. I have understood that all of the toned coins were plain. I think that the piece probably grades somewhere around MS-62 or 63 depending up how the luster comes up through the toning.
I would agree with low grade MS. The obverse is rather lacking in eye appeal, based on that picture. I would think the reverse is PL, and the obverse is not.
That is so cool. Always wondered why they were simply marked uncirculated ... Thought perhaps that was all the client paid for.
They were simply marked Uncirculated, because they were packaged around 1970/71 and the MS grades didn't come into common use until 1978/79 and all 11 grades weren't used until 1986.
Makes sense. Since the wife and I didn't really start learning about coins and grading till the 90's. I know we went to the FUN convention in 1991, as we were able to get one of the signed / numbered intaglio prints. Still hanging on the wall with the matching commemorative coins from that year, and the printer's business card. Sorry getting off track, guess the point was that at that time there were lots of different coin grading services, so we really never knew a time when there weren't. Thanks so much... always learning.