Grade Opinion Please

No grade damaged? BU details?

PCGS, with their total coin concept MS61/62.

ANACS MS64 because the stakes are low.

NNC MS66 to make the customer happy and get more sucker submissions.

 

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I don't think it looks like its been through a till but it might have been a slider. Either way, I stick with my initial assessment.

Ruben

 

A slider? AU? Damaged? The coin was cut from mint packaging. The TPGs will call that coin uncirculated. The ticks and taps you see are mostly remnants from striking, very typical of the bicentennial issue, and I suspect that's why some people have graded it low MS, and very few of them have spent any time looking at MS Ikes in mint sets or slabs. I would be shocked if they graded it lower than 63 -- but it is the luster not the ticks and taps that will likely limit/set the grade and luster is very difficult to judge from the photos provided. Respectfully...Mike

Here are two MS 66s:





p.s. the most experienced Ike collector that I am aware of on this form would be 19lyds. You might PM him and solicit his opinion.

 

Sorry, I was half-joking.

I generally spend Ikes unless they have some silver content, and those I sell to the bullion buyers after enjoying looking at them for a while.

 

Mike - I think I've spent a little time looking at them. I might have about a 1/2 dozen of them...that is the 76 coin

 

Ruben, If you think the coin posted by the OP is a "slider" (as in AU/MS slider), I would suggest you've not looked at enough NGC/PCGS graded ones. Respectfully...Mike

 

alright I could be wrong

 

I gonna agree with Mike on this one. I don't think the coin is MS65, but they are pretty lenient with the roughness when grading these coins. Not really sure it matters though since the difference in value between and MS64 & MS65 is less than $10 bucks. They don't jump in price until they hit premium gem which the OP's coin certainly is not. Here is a photo of my MS65 for comparison.

 

We can all be wrong, no worries. Thank you for admitting the possibility.

In point of fact, this very issue (the "rough" nature of Ikes) confused me for many years until I had a chance to talk to James Sego on the topic. He explained to me what he has learned through submitting many thousands of Ikes to PCGS, and after that conversation a light-bulb went off over my head and suddenly things made sense. Basically, he said, unless there are hard marks from contact with other coins, the TPGs tend to grade the coins more on luster than anything else and they generally ignore the planchet chatter unless it is very distracting or the coin is ultra-high-grade (i.e. top-pop).

 

FWIW, here's a photo of my 65:



To the point made above to Ruben.... You should immediately note the coin has LESS planchet chatter than either of the two 66s I posed above, but the luster is slightly muted.

 

The Philadelphis IKE's have always been plagued with annealing marks which are often referred to as "chicken scratching".

Prior to being sent to the coining press, these coins went through a cleaning and annealing process where they were literally rotated and tumbled in big drums like washing machines. This created countless hits that, given enough pressure of the die, got eliminated through metal flow. The Philadelphia press operators weren't big fans of die pressure for these large copper nickel clad coins and the end result is some serious chicken scratching which most folks interpret as hits.

The key to determining the difference between an annealing mark (pre-mint but not grade limiting damage, to an extent) and a hit (post mint damage and definitely grade limiting) is by close examination. An annealing mark will look like a hit in a photograph but upon closer examination, shows what actually looks like a tear or broken area in the surface of the coin (Red Arrows below). Often these are filled with unstruck metal. Sizeable hits from other coins will always show remnants of the reeding from reeded coins or some type of angular gouge from non-reeded coins (Green Arrows below). Mostly, large hits on these IKE Dollars have to occur at ejection time since the coins themselves are incredibly hard and it requires some determined force to make a sizeable gouge in them. What I mean by that is that as the coins are struck, they are very hot and still relatively soft. Once they've cooled off, they're very, very hard. They can scratch but they are difficult to gouge. I don't know if I'm being very clear as it just takes some experience in determining whats what on these coins. Most certainly numerous, large annealing marks will limit an IKE's grade but never to the point of AU. AU requires luster breaks which are usually on the forehead, cheek and jawline.




Annealing mark


Annealing mark



For the OP's coin, I'm of the opinion that the amount of chicken scratching which show up on the reverse may limit the grade of the coin to MS64 even though it appears to have MS65 luster. Philadelphia IKE's are the absolute toughest to get graded in MS65 and higher because of the Philladelphia mints inability to strike out these annealing marks. Especially with the 1971's, 1972's and 1976 T1 coins. PCGS hasn't awarded an MS67 to any of these years.

By all means, though, send your coin in since these are just as difficult to grade from a photograph as they can be in hand.


The coin below is being sent in for a regrade since I feel that the luster is superb.

 

Thanks Lee.

 

Mike,

I don't know how many people on this forum know who James Sego, but tutelage from one of the IKE experts is invaluable.

He goes by the name segoja on the PCGS forum and his HOF IKE registry set is incredible.

Eisenhower Dollars Basic Set, Circulation Strikes (1971-1978) James Sego JMS Coins

and his IKE inventory on his website is ridiculous.

 

Thanks Paul. James is a great guy, and I've bought many of my best Ikes from him over the years. What I think is most impressive about James' collection is he submitted just about all those coins himself. James knows his Ikes and how PCGS grades them, that's for sure.

 

Did you see the MS69 1973-S he has on his website? That coin is just sick!

JMS Coins 1973-S IKE PCGS MS69

 

After reading the comments on this thread and seeing the pics, I really need to submit some of my raw Ikes for grading especially my 1976 Type 1 coins. TC

 

Thank you everyone for your incredibly informative posts.