Received these recently and would appreciate any comments as to condition and cleaning. 1893 Columbian Exposition 1925 Stone Mountain Thanks! I just love sharing coins here. My wife just says "That's nice" or "That's cool". I don't even bother to show her my few pieces of currency...she just doesn't get it. Rob
Nice coins! The wiki article on the Stone Mountain Half is surprisingly thorough - a great numismatic read for free. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain_Memorial_half_dollar
They both look like they'd make a low AU. And IMO the Columbian is cleaned (dipped; lack of toning; lifeless).
The Columbian looks to me to have been over cleaned a tad but the Stone Mountain looks like it still possess it's original skin and I'd grade it at XF-45.
Both are EF45 through AU50, in my opinion and based only upon the images. Both look to have been dipped and/or cleaned, too.
Here is a better picture of the Stone Mountain, outside of the capsule. I'm a lousy photographer. Can't seem to actually capture the look. Rob
Don't worry neither can I . But you'll get better especially with a copy stand which holds the camera still and lets you shoot straight down .
Here's the setup I used for my photos posted today. A compact tripod counter-weighted with a bronze egg, camera shooting straight down using natural indirect light in my office. I have a medium-size photo light box, but it is a pain to set up for quick shots. Have a small-size one on the way that should work better just for coins and small stuff. Rob
Both coins look cleaned however the Columbian likely won't grade whereas the Stone Mountain probably will.
