GTG: 1926 Sesquicentennial Commemorative Half

I've been wanting to do this for quite a while, but I have been having a really difficult time getting photos through the somewhat scratched up vintage slab plastic. Trying to show the virtues of the coin without the distractions of the plastic is tough.

This is also a tough coin to grade due to its notoriously typical weak strikes. I'm posting a couple pairs of photos to try to give you the best idea of how it looks in the hand. It's starting to tone nicely as well. I've owned this coin for over 25 years (as the slab tells the story).

What say you?

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That's a tough one... the patina being a bit on the thick side
I see what appears to be a little rub on the hair and a touch of wear on the lettering otherwise a very sharp clean coin so i'll say...
AU52...
That said, it appears to be in an anacs soap bar and may have been less toned at the time of slabbing so the grade might go as high as 62, but I don't think I would give it that high a grade now

 

Beautiful commemorative! As you mentioned, these are known for being weakly struck and the devices almost always appear flat and worn. Yours appears an average strike for the issue - details in the hair and Liberty Bell are relatively crisp - however, motto seems quite weak. There's also a few distracting marks. These could very well be on the holder (NGC fatty?). Based on your photos, I'm guessing this has decent luster. I think it could be MS64.

With that said, this one is pretty tricky to grade; it always stumps me... Anything between AU58 and MS65 wouldn't surprise me.

 

A rub appears on the side of President Washingtons which puts the coin into AU territory. The luster makes me think AU58. But here's the catch - to the best I can tell from the pictures there may be a disturbed surface to the right (facing) lower of the Liberty bell. I selected Details/Dreck.

 

MS-62, but as said above, it's hard to tell. I'm assuming the flat cheek on Washington is weak strike and the disturbed surface mentioned above is more of an illusion of the photo. If not, then yeah, details.

 

AU64

 

I went with 62 also.
Here's my 62, and as a Philly guy one of my favorites

 

Okay, I have an ulterior motive for this one. I made the voting intentionally wide as not to give a clue. I can say that it is not an NGC fatty. It is in an early (I believe) ANACS soap bar slab.

Z

 

Disregard.

 

Beautiful coin no doubt, but tough to grade. I'll go with MS-60

 

I'm going with an AU-58 but you never know on these older silver commemoratives, sometimes they surprise me!

 

I went MS63.

 

I'm at '63 on this one.......the coins of this array are notoriously understruck. Still, the quality is rather good and the coin is free of distracting marks.

 

63

 

58

 

MS-64

 

I will do the reveal tomorrow. Let the late night crowd get their guesses in.

Z

 

Anyone remember Alison Steele? NY demographic........night bird. Gonna be up late.