Why do they have such a harsh grade? The WE in "GOD WE TRUST" is what's used to grade them. Look at this 2 cent piece. Has a lot of detail in it, but the word WE, which is the highest part of the coin, is worn off. It only makes it a G-4, a coin with a lot of detail left in it, only a G-4. I don't understand why they are graded to harshly?
I seem to recall from my early days at grading that the WE had to be visible to grade as a FINE. The whole motto had to be gone to grade Good.
The old ANA grading guide which I have states that for VG, "Motto is weak and WE is incomplete". And for Fine 12 "Entire motto is plain but WE is very weak". I agree - if that is, in fact, the way they are graded these days, I think it is overly harsh. The coin posted (otherwise) looks like it SHOULD be an easy Fine.
This is a poster child while only looking at one part of a coin to grade is the wrong way to do it. These things are listed to give beginners a hand, but there is nothing magical about the "WE" on this coin, or a buffalo's horn, or LIBERTY on a shield or headband. The overall coin has to be looked at to determine a grade. The problem is there are some grading guides that say these things HAVE to be there, so you have some collectors who insist they HAVE to be there to grade. Therefor, for US coins at least, you may have a hard time selling it at the true grade of the coin. I agree with Mark, this coin is at least a fine. Chris
Just look at it as a way to collect a nice set at VG prices. To me the only complaint I have is the passes the tpg's sometime give to key dates.
You have identified the single biggest challenge in grading and collecting two cent pieces. The word WE is the first to show any level of wear, on your coin, I'm sure you can see wear on the arrow heads and feathers, the higher leaves, reverse wreath, etc. A issue also at play is the WE can even start out weakly struck, which compounds the wear it receives in circulation. I wonder if in-hand and angled under good light if the WE on your coin might be very, very weak thus giving you a Fine grade.
Fairly strong denticles over half way around the coin on both sides is nice to see too. I see no problem giving it a VG-10 or possibly F-12...
Thats a great point. Most of the time eye appeal is more important than the official grade in my opinion.
