Well, I just thought I would post up one of my favorite coin types... a Capped Bust Half. Attribution and grading opinions welcomed. Enjoy !
Probably would hit in the MS63 area.. as for attribution.. I THINK its the O-102, but hard to tell from the pictures. I hope its a 102, if not you best have somebody look at this coin in hand that knows busties.. Quick identifiers of this die marriage are: (1) On the obverse there is a fine line traversing the lips and traversing to the chin. Before it reaches the chin it curves outward. (2) The 8 has been recut. The recutting is easier seen inside the upper portion of the lower loop. (It can be seen best on my LDS coin's photo.) (3) The base of the A is much higher than the base of the M. (4) There is a die defect prong extending down from the tip of the right wing.
I knew this was a tough attribution from the full size photos, but I wanted to give our many eagle-eye sharpies first shot. Here are some zoom pictures which will give a much better clue.
Ding ding ding ! To me, that's the best answer. As this slab shot shows, it's TPG graded AU58. I feel that's a fair grade. However, as we've pointed out so often on this site, AU coins very often outperform 61s and 62s in eye appeal. An "A" coin 58 is almost always more appealing than a "C" coin two notches higher.
Here's another reason I wanted to post this particular coin : Many folks feel comfortable only with PCGS or NGC slabs. I think that's OK... for beginners. But there are two Great Commandments this site has stressed many times : Thou shalt learn to grade for thy self. Thou shalt buy the coin, not the slab. As this coin illustrates, nice coins (strong for the grade) can be found in other slabs. Some folks consider SEGS "third world", but I don't.
Oh... this is O-106, r.1. There are two diagnostics. Check out the photos below, with cute little orange thingies. OBVERSE: Look closely at Star 1, on either side of the downward pointing point. There are two small die lines. Since they rise above the surface of the metal, they can't be scratches. Those are two grooves, accidently put in the die by the engraver's tool when he was working on the design. REVERSE: Check out the shield; each bundle of three vertical lines is called a gule (symbolizing the color red). Now, look at the 3rd line of the first gule, the 1st line of the 2nd gule, and the 2nd line of the 4th gule. Each of these goes too far north, past the lowest horizontal bar and up to the second horizontal. This, too, is diagnostic and resulted from an engraver's error.
SEGS isn't the best around but they are alright if you want your coin in a slab. Like Leadfoot said, I would crack it out and send it to NGC or PCGS. (Be careful cracking coins out of slabs, that would be a heart-braker if that coin got scratched.)
