Grade these coins - #1

I have 4 Bicentennial Quarters that aren't graded... what do you think they should grade?

1

2

3

4

 

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#1 AU-55
#2 MS-60
#3 AU-55
#4 AU-50

 

#1 AU-58
#2 MS-65
#3 MS-66
#4 MS-65

 

They all look sweet milady.......

 

All are 'pocket change'
*well, technically.... CRH finds

 

Fantabulous indeed.......

 

bump.

 

On # 3 are those die polish lines? Some are intersecting?

 

Yes, looks like die polish lines.... the intersecting ones are either hits or one to the 'right' of Washington seems to possibly be a very light die break starting to show (from the die), not for sure.

 

They all look AU to me. They are each worth about 25 cents.

 

I believe three are UNC rather than AU, but I am better at grading other denominations than the quarter... so am looking for input. Of course, grading is subjective, but I am not seeing the wear on these that should put them to AU. Perhaps you can point it out.

 

Just making a coin talk joke

 

I am not the best grader ...however using a comparison. Here is a quick photo of a silver still in package...so completely uncirculated. Key to note for me is the hair on Washington's head. There are lines of hair from the temple area all the way down to the ear. In your photos (may be different in hand) it appears there is clearly wear in this area on items 2,3, and 4. You can see similar wear on the drum and its inside rim on the reverse. I am not seeing as the wear on item 1, however, the photo looks flat, like there is no luster left on the coin. Assuming this is a photo issue, and not a coin issue, I would grade it MS65 at most given the marks on both Obverse and Reverse...this is clearly a question of the photo as they may/may not appear as negative in hand. My view based on the photos.

 

Thanks, I will have to look at each coin individually. Also to check the photograde book I have which tells where the wear first shows. I want to learn the Washington Quarters very well because at some point in time, I'd like to sell the really nice ones I find, ones that are worth keeping. I've spent the past several years doing CRH and have been keeping the very best examples I find. It is now time to look through those and learn to grade them and to be able to immediately spot wear on them so as to put them in the AU group (which will normally mean they go back into circulation). I think CT is the perfect place for people to help me learn this.

 

Someone has either been ignoring/missing recent threads or is attempting to open a can of worms regarding intersecting lines and die polish.

 

All look AU to me.

 

Option #2, worms

 

Well, first I'll say this - if you found them in rolls, the odds are stacked strongly against you. Very rarely will you find a true Mint State coin in a roll. Also, almost all of the coins you find in rolls are (usually) there for a reason - because they are worth face value. Trying to find coins worth selling in rolls is very difficult - unless you are looking for varieties (RPM, DDO, DDR, etc), or unless you find silver.

As for the actual coins you have posted: the highpoints of many coins are easy to figure out (you don't necessarily need a book to show you where the wear will appear first). Human figures are the easiest - because they are round. Just look in the middle, and you'll generally get it pretty close.

On the Bicentennial quarter, the places to look are going to be Washington's cheek and hairline, and the base of his neck. On the reverse, look at the drummers face, hat, arms, and drum. Wear will begin to appear as a slight discoloration, with breaks in the luster in these areas (an uncirculated coin should have luster on all points of the design - with a few exceptions, there should be no break in the luster on these high points). As wear progresses, you will see flattening on these high points.

Pictures 1 and 3 very clearly show discoloration, luster breaks, and mild flattening on Washington's hairline. Picture 4 shows on Washington's cheek and the drummer's left arm. Picture 2 is harder to discern with your pictures - the overlit and off-white picture will tend to hide the markers we are looking for (note: many ebay sellers know this, and will intentionally take pictures like this to fool you). However, even on picture 2, if you look at the roll of Washington's hair, you will see some of the indications we are searching for.

I know this was a long post, but distinguishing AU from UNC is very tricky. For a lot more discussion on the topic, I encourage you to read my book (I have several chapters talking about luster, wear, strike, and include a discussion of how to use them to tell AU from UNC).

 

@physics-fan3.14 do you see any wear on this one???

 

No wear is immediately apparent in those pictures. But it is very difficult to determine AU from UNC just based on pictures, most of the time.