Hi All, I just got my 8 voucher coins back from PCGS. This is my first experience with getting coins graded. I am still learning about coins, so I thought I'd do a guess the grade to see what the more seasoned numismatists think about the coins. Here's the first two: 1900-S Morgan 1960 Franklin If you guys are into this I have six more I can post. This was a very educational experience.
Well instead of a guessed grade how about a 1900 nice variety like the 2 olive reverse from your image I can't tell if it's a Vam 22/23 but it is a double olive. In my guess ms 63 -64
MS-63 for the morgan, looks like it does not have much luster maybe dipped at one point which is common with morgans, MS-64 if it has more luster I can't see in the photos so I would probably say MS-63 I would say MS-64 for the Half.
Out of all the coins I graded, the Franklin was the last coin I thought would come back cleaned. I thought it would come back FBL. And I haven't seen thousands of Morgans, but that is the nicest MS62 I have come across. Maybe the previous poster is right, they take off points for the luster? I thought this one would come back cleaned.
An old cleaning that may be considered acceptable on a Morgan would probably be considered unacceptable on a Franklin - even if they were done at the same time using the same method. You already posted the grades, but I was going to guess 62 on the Morgan. The biggest reasons for this are the apparent lack of luster (which may be a result of the cleaning), and the numerous scattered small marks across the surface of the coin. It has a generally "scruffy" feel. The strike is somewhat weak, and the eye appeal is below average (I'd call it neutral-negative: not ugly, not not terribly attractive either). All of these combine to give a 62. The Franklin doesn't look cleaned in your pictures, but pictures will hide an awful lot. If it wasn't cleaned, it would grade 64FBL at PCGS. The bottom set of bell lines are very strong, but the top set are not - so it would not grade FBL at NGC.
You're right, it's very hard to capture the nuances of a coin in a photo. But this Franklin looked real clean. The only thing that I could think of is it looks like it has a scuff on the reverse, but it doesn't look like a cleaning to my novice eyes, because it seems so randomly placed:
