Under-graded?

For Seated and Barber issues it's a prominent marker, being a feature which wears early while not being subject to effect from all but the worst strikes.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I understand where people use LIBERTY as a basis. I have no problem with that, but I tend to look more at the whole coin than just one specific detail. I have been exclusively collecting Barber Half Dollars for the last few years. I don't believe it has made me an expert, but looking at thousands of coins over the past 5 years, I have a pretty good handle on them.

I am not saying the coin in the OP is a 20, because technically the whole coin is not even beyond LIBERTY. But like @physics-fan3.14 said, it's a better date with better than average (although not great IMO) surfaces , sometimes the TPG's will give them a bump. Even if the coin was in a VF holder, it's still only worth F money.

Just my 50c.

 

And if anyone wants to see TPG difference in grades compared to LIBERTY. Just see my set below. There are a few coins that are in VF holders that don't have a full LIBERTY. I don't necessarily agree with all of them, but some I do. The real challenge is buying them at the right price with your own grading standards. Regardless of whats on the holder.

http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/publishedset.aspx?s=136091

 

20 Cent pieces especially CC ones being an exception for the Seated series. I completely agree it is a marker as has been mentioned and does hold weight, my objection to that practice is that I just don't believe that should be an automatic limitation if that happened to wear out a little faster than expected. Obviously an AU barber with missing Liberty is highly unlikely, but I have seen a number of them with VF grades I agreed with where the Liberty wouldn't be considered full.

I should have expanded my initial post a bit to include that I believe we should be grading the whole coin and not just limit something to F at the highest because of a single marker.

I agree with the approach of being more lenient for the ones that usually have poor or weak strikes but I also hold the opinion that grading comparisons should remain within the same date and mint marks since once either of those change you could be working with large difference in the strike quality to begin with.

For older series where keys are often pretty scare to downright rare I view their grading more as a ranking system against the known survivors. I do agree though that more modern keys are plentiful enough that their "rarity" doesn't justify grading bumps for that alone.

 

Judging by Photograde F12 should have a full LIBERTY. Bowers, et al are right on the mark re Grade deflation. Makes me feel like breaking coins out my older TPG holders and resubmitting them.