Hello All! I went through my fiancée's change the other day, and I came up with some newer dimes and pennies. I was curious if my grading on these was overly optimistic. Thanks! The dime, I was thinking low MS because of the luster. The first penny, because of the rather large scruff mark and the luster, I was thinking possibly AU. And the last penny, I was thinking a low MS again.
Agreed. Sounds like you are looking at grading wrong OP. A coin can have all of the luster in the world, and be an AU. The difference between AU and BU is slight wear. Look at the high points of the obverse. See the breaks in the luster? That is wear, so the coin is AU.
Thanks guys, that helps a ton! Regarding a damaged coin, that would include scratches, or gouges, dings, or holes right? If that is the case, these are completely ungradeable?
It depends on the amount of damage and is a judgment call on the TPG part. Basically the older or rarer the coin usually they will "give it a break" in that regard. Holes, however, are ALWAYS ungradable.
In this particular case that coin was damaged by a rolling machine or a counting machine. That's about the only things there are that create those scratches/scuffs in an arc like that. Sometimes you can even see them go all the way around the coin. And yes, as said already, calling a coin damaged is a matter of degree. It doesn't matter what the damage is or what caused it, all that matters is the degree of the damage to the coin. And there are several things that go into making that determination. The size of the coin, the metal content, the location of the damage on the coin, and the severity of the damage itself - all of these things are considered when making a judgement of if a coin is to be considered damaged or not.
