Here is one of my more recent acquisitions that I bought in its PCGS AU53 holder. Note the black spot next to the lower right portion of the bust. I often wonder about these types of spots, as I know that they can emerge after slabbing, unlike other types of damage like scratches that I can be sure were there when the coin was slabbed. My question is, would a spot like this cause a coin to get a details grade upon submission? Or would it even affect the grade at all of a circulated coin like this one? I understand that spots affect eye appeal and that part doesn’t bother me. I just want to be sure that, even if the spot had emerged after slabbing, that it would still be market acceptable at the assigned grade. BTW I didn’t pay particularly strong money for it.
If your “spot” is the small black area above the curl on Ms. Liberty’s neck, that looks like a nick below the surface of the coin to me. You might wish that it wasn’t there, but it is consistent with the assigned grade.
I’ve looked closely under a loupe and it is not a nick, it appears to be a black spot on the surface.
I see raised metal to left of the black spot, which looks like a nick to me, but you have the coin in-hand.
I think he's talking about the spot at the back edge of the hair in the field - not the one on the neck.
Actually I see what you are referring to, the nick on Liberty’s neck above the curl and below the ear. I was asking about the larger spot next to liberty’s hair across from the 12th star.
No, and I've never seen it happen. Not likely on a coin like this one. Yeah, it should be if that was what happened. But I don't think that is what happened with this coin. This coin looks to me like it's been dipped, and the darker areas, seen in many places - both spots, around the edges of the stars, and in a few protected areas like the deepest recesses of the curls - are merely dark toning that wasn't completely removed by the dip.
It’s out of the line of sight in the design so it doesn’t amount to much. If this were graded MS-63 or higher, it’s a problem.