Just bought this half eagle for my son's birthday. Needless to say he is thrilled, and also by the fact it is not quite that common, being a New Orleans mint issue. May I ask for your opinion on its grade. Thanks! Eduard
From what I've been told, you may not like the experience! GD, there is a scratch on the reverse, but it is quite light and I did not even notice it.
Yipes, I suck at grading these half eagles! I gave it a G-4!!!!!!! because I did not see enough hair on the top of the coronet and the rims on the obverse were almost gone.
Well, quite a range of guesses here G4 to XF..... I spent some time looking at a PCGS grading guide yesterday, and I am tending toward VF20. Regarding the scratches on the reverse - interesting how some focused on those right away, whereas I totally overlooked them and did not find them obtrusive. At what point does damage become so severe as to render a coin 'ungradable' ? It is subjective I guess.
We are like minded, number wise I couldn't decide between 20 & 25. Yes it is subjective. And with scratches that severity is based on length and depth, and location, but to my knowledge the TPGs have never specified anything regarding that subjectivity, no parameters in other words. Long ago I decided for my own purposes that about 20% was the magic number, meaning that if a scratch was about 20% of the diameter of the coin, that the coin was damaged. This coin has one scratch that is that big and another, lighter one, that is nearly so. So for me, that cinches it. Other opinions may vary of course, but that is mine. I always figure that when it comes to coins it is better to err on the side of caution than it is to be optimistic. That thinking has never steered me wrong.
My view on the surfaces is that gold is a very soft metal that scratches easily. Also, transportation in and around New Orleans in the 1850s was not necessarily comfortable, which means that coins might have been banged around pretty darn good while in transit or commerce. Lastly, a coin with this amount of wear should have seen plenty of commercial transactions and should have been exposed to all sorts of surface insults. Taken together, this makes me forgive the surface impairments on this coin whereas if the scratch were present on an MS 1904 half eagle it would result in a no grade.
