You got that right , I blew it big time , though later I thought 45 with a proper monitor . I was still way off .
Because people pay big money for PCGS slabs I guess. Doesn't look AU to me either, but people put a lot of faith on whatever PCGS does.
In this case (as with many others with them), IMO, they missed the mark here. Then again, coins can look a LOT different in hand. Nonetheless, the level of wear on the wheat stalks is much more consistent with EF IMHO.
They get it right more than wrong is one reason , 2. They've seen it in hand . Are you saying that because most here got the same grade that A consensus here with less than perfect pictures is more accurate than the top tags?
Even with a perfect picture, woodies can be difficult to read. With just that dramatic grain, it can be very difficult IN HAND and then you lose the ability to see all the different lighting wit a single picture.
Yes, actually, because that's what ten years of experience driving online conversations about grading coin images has taught me. A consensus in an online forum (of a large-enough sample) is more accurate, even with poor images, than any TPG.
I'd never would have said 53. This thread proves to me that I'd have to see it in hand for sure to even get a chance at getting it right. Thanks for the opportunity to have a look at your woody. (...well, now that certainly isn't how I wanted that to sound, but you know what I mean).
With the full understanding that digital photos have come a long way and much can be done with them, the idea that they, when presented on this or any coin forum, are superior to an in-hand viewing is simply ludicrous. This certainly isn't meant to, in any way, say the TPGs are infallible, but a "consensus" (which is nothing more than a "general agreement") among members with varying levels of skill and knowledge, and based upon incomplete information, especially when the images are poor, is not a legitimate or viable substitute for knowledgeable individuals examining a coin with their own eyes.
Great coin! I'm late to the party, but this was definitely a tough coin to grade based on the picture. I couldn't get anything off the obverse due to the grain, and the luster isn't really that evident in the pic. BTW, are the letters AM on the reverse greased or something? And I kind of hate to say it, but I think there might be a couple spots on the reverse that could use some VerdiCare, if my eyes aren't deceiving me.
Darn skippy. Nothin' beats a coin in hand with a strong light. Maybe a loupe if it's a small coin and you're getting a little farsighted.
When you know you have a solid core of a few hundred people who can consistently both agree with each other and (in the vast majority of situations) with the grade on the slab, and when they come together and repeat this process hundreds and hundreds of times over years, you begin to have something which approaches a sample size. I know what I've seen. You could see it too, if you examined the evidence.
I have loved this thread as a younger learning numismatist. My only 2 cents would be to submit it to the other TPG which exist and see their opinion of it also in hand. I would wonder if the two would have different opinion both having examined it in hand. Obviously a crack out but I think while an additional cost would either confirm or change the first opinion.
But who determines the correct grade ? Yes grading coins from above average pics can and has been done , but so has missing the grade from pics that at 1st glance look top notch but hide some flaw . Nothing can take the place of in hand examination as every angle can be looked at .
No, of course not. But despite all the bad things we (truthfully) say about them, the TPG's do get it right most of the time. And to go with that, good coin photography and people who know how to interpret the photography are pretty common. Everybody usually agrees, within a grade or so. Just like the TPG's don't always get it right, neither do we, online. But we usually nail it. Something has to be getting done right.
I's say XF40. That "woodgrain" appears a lot in 1909 and 1910. Especially from the San Francisco mint. I have owned many 1909 S VDB's looking like that.
