I felt pretty sure it wasn't a 58. I voted 55, but 53 is reasonable. Bottom line, it's a lovely coin and I wish it were mine!
The 7 digit serial number on the slab would indicate that the coin was graded not long before the blue ANACS slabs came out. I wouldn’t bet on the overall grading at that time being conservative. This particular coin does look nicer than a 53. The only question is, would PCGS or NGC grade it details today?
In this case, yes. It is clearly an AU coin and not MS. But Choice AU, I think. I have thought about attempting to cross it to PCGS, and do think it would deserve a bump up to 55 or 58 by today’s standards, perhaps, but on the other hand, those who brought up the possibility of it receiving a “details” grade for old cleaning may have a good point. Since it’s acceptable to me as-is, I may just keep it in the old ANACS slab. Regardless of the technicalities of the numerical grade and the issue of details versus straight grade, I like the eye appeal of the coin overall.
I'm going to guess AU-58. I see some marks on the fields but nothing not in line with circulation. Note that this isn't a ms-63: a few circulation marks in the fields are acceptable.
I (subtly) posted the answer earlier, beneath a spoiler button. I think it's pretty conservatively graded in the old ANACS slab, but I'll probably leave it there. Dunno. Then again, I might attempt a crossover at PCGS, but given the uncertainty of that, I'd have to consider whether the corresponding increase in value of a 2-5-point upgrade (IF that even happened) would be worth the expense and hassle involved. Really, I reckon it's fine as-is, though this is now the only ANACS coin in my otherwise all-PCGS/NGC collection, and the small holder will rattle around a bit inside my slab album page, unless I devise some kind of padded insert to prevent that.
So now that we know the grade of a decades old ANACS holder, the real question is "what did it cost"? Unless there's undisclosed damage, there's no way that this coin would grade as low as that TODAY in a PCGS/NGC holder. Was the price commensurate with today's easier grades? I'm curious because I'm bidding on a couple of seated halves presently. I'll post them if I get any.
$270 delivered. Which, as I recall, is in the right ballpark vis-a-vis Greysheet, and a pretty darn good price vis-a-vis PCGS/NGC/Numismedia retail trend prices, if I remember correctly.
I agree. It is not an MS coin, because of minor wear. The scratches in the fields appear to be minor wear, and striations, not cleaning marks. It is high AU in my opinion. I would have graded it AU 58. Like 90% of seated coinage, it was previously dipped, but unless it is excessive, that is not an issue. I like the coin a lot.