GTG 1978 Jefferson Nickel (NGC)

Seems difficult to be able to tell the difference between remnant planchet roughness, and ordinary nicks and scratches. I've seen tons of MS coins without any remnant planchet roughness, so I am not completely sold. Even if it is already on the planchet, it's not attractive and doesn't deserve a super high grade for that reason.

 

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There are very few MS Jeffersons that have "zero" planchet roughness, even the war nickels made from a silver alloy usually have some on the jawline. As for planchet roughness affecting the grade, there are many that agree with you, but not the TPGs. I think it should be relegated to strike. If the coin is well struck but still has some planchet roughness, it would seem punitive to cause it to prevent a top grade, IMO.

 

I grew up being told the tiny marks on the face are called chatter marks that the strike did not remove. Sounds like planchet roughness is the proper term.

 

For anyone who is not familiar with “planchet roughness”, here’s a planchet showing all the harsh treatment it receives during the manufacturing process. A good strike will wipe out most of these as the metal is forced up into the recesses of the die. But getting them all removed is a challenge.

(I’m not hijacking the thread, honest!)

 

No worries, the reveal is coming soon, probably later tonight.

 

This is a really tough coin to grade. It is one of those Jefferson Nickels that is in between grades, and right on the edge of being full steps or not. Based on the current poll, full steps is dead even, 9 to 9. As for grade, 7 people think the coin is MS66 to 4 for MS65, but then there are another 6 that think it isn't even gem grade. So the low end of the range for this coin is MS65 and the high end is MS66 5FS. Personally, I would have graded the coin MS66 5FS, but it should be to nobody's surprise that NGC graded it MS65. At least I wasn't the submitter this time.





Does anyone who had the coin graded below gem think the coin looks better based on off the slab photos?