Help grading/discussing some Indian Head Cents

I know almost nothing about Indian Head Cents, but these are about to head to PCGS with an economy order. Any advice or grading tips, as well as guesses, are welcome. I have trouble telling the difference between wear and strike, color, etc... Thanks!

#1: 1907 date

#2: 1906 date

#3: 1905 date

 

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Hi C-B-D,

Rick Snow (Eagle Eye Rare Coins) is the one of the major leading authorities on Indian Head cents (if not the leading authority) and has published much helpful information. He has excellent videos available on Youtube, where he discusses IHC grading standards.

Grading G-XF IHC:


Grading XF45-MS62 IHC:


Grading MS63 IHC:


These were previously available in PDF form on his website, indiancent.com, but he recently updated the site and I'm currently unable to find the PDFs.

If you are interested in further study of the coins, you may consider one of Rick's books on the subject: http://www.indiancent.com/index.php/coin-books.html?cat=14 or membership in the Fly-In-Club (http://www.fly-inclub.org/index.html), which has articles available on the subject here: http://www.fly-inclub.org/coin_info.html.

Best regards,
Jesse

 

I believe you are correct, but I certainly find Rick's videos helpful for grading Indian Head Cents. The OP may consider the ANA grading guide, the PCGS Grading and Counterfeit Detection Guide or even Photograde (among others), but then again, I don't believe the TPGs strictly adhere to these standards either.

Jesse

 

I would grade them all MS: Gorgeous

 

I do know PCGS tends to lower the grade for woodies , at least for Lincolns and suppose they do for Indians too .

 

I would not be surprised if the first came back AU - the other two look MS, but with those pictures it is tough to say what they will grade.

 

I have to agree with you Mark , as I was thinking high AU with coin 1 , but the leniency of the top 2 lately makes me wonder .

 

Color seems off to me, but that's not unusual for Indian heads. If they all grade, I'll go AU-58, MS-63 and AU-58. Good luck.

 

Pretty coins.

 

Why (in your opinion) does the pictures make it hard to grade?

 

AU,MS,AU

 

I'll say au58 r&b first ms 62 bn second (there's a pretty good ding in the chin) and ms 64 bn on the third (my favorite of the lot) I'm no ihc expert either tho

 

Sorry - had a vacation break. The large pictures and the colors just seem a little off to me and it makes the coins look flat compared to some other pictures. This would be a case of needing to see the coins in hand to make a better call.

 

This seems about right, the third one might squeak through as an MS.

 

It could. It's very hard to tell the difference between a high AU and a lower MS by pics. Sometimes it looks like rub, sometimes it's weak strike. I think some high AU's are passing as MS62's. I have a SLQ like that.

 

"Any advice or grading tips, as well as guesses, are welcome."

yeah, save your money

 

Too late! Sent em off with an economy order, $20 each. I'll post the results when they come back in about a month. Even if they are AU, the eye appeal is outstanding.

 

Good luck and I really do hope they get good grades for you.