How close does this grading look? As I have been researching things on this board, I realized have bought another coin from yet another unpopular grading service. If you can tell from the photo, how accurate do you think the grading is on this MS66 Indian Head Cent from Numistrust? The reverse in particular looks fantastic. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3943432024 I also bought a NNC slabbed Indian Head Penny that was graded MS65: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3943421186 I now have this in my possesion and it is a wonderful coin. Even if there was a grading issue with this company, I feel that it is well worth the money. What determines whether it is Red-Brown? It looks rather close to what I would call Red. Thanks, PR70
The red-gold luster determines whether a coin is Red, Red-Brown, or Brown. I believe there has to be 75% or more red luster for a coin to be considered RD. I think it's around 50% for a coin to be RD/BN. Portions of a RD/BN coin will have already begun to tone brown and luster is lost. When all of the luster is gone, it's BN. If I'm wrong, I'm sure that someone here will correct me. It looks to me like the two that you purchased are very nice coins (unless the pictures were doctored). The first definitely looks RD. The second looks to be starting to lose its red luster. It would be easier to tell with close-ups.
The pictures are way too small to attempt grading the coins - grading based on a picture is tenuous at best. As for the color designation - in my opinion they are both Red Brown based on the pics. But the '98 may have a shot at Red if seen in hand. It's not really the luster that is lost with toning Susan - a toned coin can still retain its original luster. With copper, it is just that the color changes. And NGC & PCGS have been known to slab more than a few copper coins as RB with only 5% red remaining.
Technically, the grading services will grade something as Brown with less than 5% red showing, Red/Brown with 5%-95% red, and Red with 95%+ red showing. Some grading services might allow slight variances but this is how ICG and PCGS do it. Of course, I'm perplexed at how they determine what percentage brown (or red) the coin really is.
