Z, I think that a more fun/educational exercise might be to ask people to post their worst bell lines that they think would be acceptable to TPG as FBL - or actually have been graded FBL by a TPG. I’ve got a large number of Franklins, and I’ve submitted dozens to PCGS, all but a few with expectations of FBL. Most come back as what I expected, but not all. So I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but am sometimes confused about why PCGS went one way versus another. Here’s a coin that I’ll likely submit, a 57P with a rather lovely gem obverse. Will it come back FBL, or not? What do you folks think will happen if I send this one in? I have an opinion, but I’m by no means certain.
Ugh, bad photo of the lines to the right of the bell crack. I get so focused on the lines to the left of the crack that I didn’t notice that the ones to the right appear to be incomplete. Not true, they are strong. So I took the coin out of the cellophane and will show pictures of both sides. My concern with FBL is not to the right of the crack, and the detail to the left of the crack is best seen in the first shot .
WoW. See, what a difference. I think it could go either way. Check this out @WillGK ......FBL GUIDE (franklinlover.yolasite.com)
I'm kinda leaning to it not getting FBL. The lines to the left of the crack look like they have a somewhat v-shaped mark running through them. If there is I don't think its going to get FBL.
Sal, I didn’t see your post until after I made my update - too busy trying to figure out how to post the danged pictures. So I anticipated your request well, lol. Not sure that I agree with all aspects of the guide that you linked. Yes to almost all, but it’s been my experience, at least in the case of PCGS, that they are quite lenient on weakness of the lines in the immediate vicinity (on either side) of the bell crack. In any event, this particular coin doesn’t have that sort of situation. But I’m thinking of a couple of 54-S’s that are very weak near the crack and both got 65FBL. And I’ve presently got a third one submitted with the same weakness and I’m guessing that it gets 65FBL.
Cwart, right-on. I’m more focused on the general weakness of the lines in that area, and not so much the v-cut, which is real. However, in my experience w/PCGS they do NOT like cuts across the lines…! And I’ve never figured out quite what it is that they look for, because I’ve seen a lot of photos of other people’s coins that have cuts that get FBL. And I’ve got some with minor cuts that made it. What PCGS says (and I don’t what NGC or ICG say) is that the lines have to be continuous and uncut. Now a “line”, in the sense of the bell lines on a Franklin, has to be defined as the combination of a high and low. Seems to me that it would take a cut deep enough to penetrate both the high AND the low in order to ruin continuity. In other words, if the cut doesn’t get down to the low, PCGS might not eliminate it…? I just do not know, and am hoping that a Franklin expert on bell line cuts might chime in.
I actually think that the lines would be continuous if not for the cut. The second set of pics makes it look like they are too weak, but like you said earlier the first pic shows the lines better. I am no expert by any means, but I think its going to come down to how hard the look at that cut.
OK. As to general continuity of the lines, my eyesight isn’t exactly what it used to be, and I have a hard time with seeing fine technical things with a loupe. I kept thinking that that the bell lines at the left weren’t continuous, so this coin was just another pretty face that wasn’t worth submitting. Then, for the heck of it I tried taking a picture with a bazillion lumens, and by golly I think we both see the same thing in that first photo - very faint, but maybe good enough. I think that PCGS could do a bit better at specifying criteria for cuts. It seems to me that a cut is either too much or not enough, and that this should be a technical matter, subject to specification, as opposed to being a subjective matter. And maybe it is. But if it is, why don’t they make it a bit more clear? Oh well. I’ll see if I can come up with a better shot of the v-shaped cut.
