Grading coins by the letters in "LIBERTY"

Many collectors look at the number of letters in "Liberty" to get a "ballpark" idea of a coin's grade. This has been encouraged in the grading publications a very long time. While a helpful beginning, I suggest you don't get stuck exclusively into this habit as a coin's strike is one of the things that can foul this process. Below is an image of the "Liberty" on a Seated coin.

Questions:

1. What do you see?

2. How many letter are showing?

 

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4

 

Yes, coins should always be graded by LIBERTY.

 

I see(even)substantial wear for the area in question.The shield is quite nice with the (L) (T)
(Y) fully visible and it's at least a high end (fine) example based on the pictures.

 

Not to mention how silly it is to micro-grade an entire coin by one aspect

 

Oh boy…

 

baseball21, posted: "Not to mention how silly it is to micro-grade an entire coin by one aspect."

You made the list with the hot-dog . Unfortunately, you entirely missed the point of the image. Adios!

Another fly just joined you.

 

3.5.5, next question...

 

I see three full letters, L, I, and Y. Given your setup, I was trying to see that slash across the ribbon as something that wasn't struck out of the planchet -- but I see similar marks in the fields, making me think they represent actual hits to the coin.

I don't know how to judge from a single photo like this whether a weak area shows the texture of an unstruck planchet, or whether it shows wear and hits (on top of the weak strike).

 

Did you just get home from happy hour?

Aww you edited that you had quoted me how cute

 

The only grading system I use is eye appeal.

 

I see parts of 6 but only really 4

 

I see 5.

 

I see a question mark in the right (left facing) folds of the banner. I also see four distinct letters, L, T, R, Y.

 

I see a Corgi question.

 

This looks like a seated dollar, which are notoriously weakly struck in this area. That’s why I grade them based on the feathers on the reverse and Liberty’s drapery.

All 7 letters are visible, but only 4 are full. I would not be surprised if this coin is graded mid-VF

 

It seems that both you and the professional graders agree. That's why many beat up or circulated coins are graded higher than others. Eye appeal trumps everything.

This is a Seated dollar that just made the VF grade (if I remember). The letters are weak due to strike. By the book, "Liberty is not full and at least three letters are visible so some would only grade this coin VG. That's too low.

This was not a grading quiz. I can no longer see what one member wrote but is was something about trying to grade a coin by one small part of it. As I posted many times, I'm not interested in being told how I should post.

Only one member understood the hint and posted ALL that was there to see INCLUDING the # of letters. The owner of this coin paid good money for a coin with nice eye appeal. Unfortunately for him, he missed the "ham-fisted" attempt to make the shield sharper by caving a groove around the shield. The top of the shield is a less obvious part of the alteration.

 

As did I. I'd like to think I would have spotted it in-hand...

 

Grading circulated 19th century coins by LIBERTY only is like the old convention that VF Buffalo Nickels must have a full horn. There are XF and occasionally even AU/UNC 26-S (and many other dates) without a full horn. You can sometimes cherrypick dealers because of this.