Disclamer: I don't own this coin. Looks like a large rim ding at 10 on obverse. What do you guys think. It's in a NGC VF25 slab.
Sometimes, they make a lot of allowances for these scarce early coins. My guess is they are saying that is a major planchet flaw, not post mint damage. Looks like planchet "issues" running from the "7" up to the bust (unless that's a die crack). The surfaces have had a really tough time of it over the years. Should be "No Grade" ? Probably. "No Buy" ? Definitely.
One thing that bothers me about this one... On these early silver coins, they weighed each planchet. Underweight planchets got sent back and remelted. If those ugly spots are big planchet voids (i.e. pre-strike), I would have thought they would make the planchet underweight.
That would make sense, unless the planchet was overweight to begin with. I'd be curious to see what this coin weights.
Not that you need anymore answers, but it's a planchet flaw, and those are perfectly acceptable on the early pieces. I just picked up a 1795 half cent a couple of weeks ago that has a more prominent planchet crack than that.
WOW! A coin from right after the revolutionary war. When I win the lottery, I'm getting something that old!
