Just had this graded and honestly didn’t know what it would get. Came back XF40. Please post anything that you were surprised that it didn’t get a details or cleaned or whatever.
Congratulations on the straight grade. I too am surprised that it straight graded with those chop marks. But it is a Trade Dollar.
Trade Dollars will get a straight grade at PCGS if the only "issue" is a chop mark. I'm not sure if they are also more lenient for minor issues on top of the chop marks (like cleaning) as I have not had any experience with these (just admired them from the images people post).
The obverse appears to have significant corrosion pitting. If that is what it is, then I am amazed (appalled) that it straight-graded. I just got some nice half cents back from PCGS with AU-Details Cleaned grades and I thought they were too harsh. Too harsh, too lenient. Who knows what goes on behind the curtain in the Emerald City.
In the past, one or two chop marks which was hidden the design could get a straight grade. Giving this coin a straight grade is not a good idea in my opinon. I bought this coin as an EF-40, with no other descriptions, I'd be a very unhappy buyer. This number of chop marks is over the top.
The grading services have driven me nuts with their poor grading of copper, especially early copper. Here are some early copper coins that came back in body bags. This one really made me angry because I spotted it in an straight graded PCGS holder after I sold it. I did get my money because I put it in an EAC auction. It made the front cover because it is a condition census piece. If you only know how to grade Morgan Dollars, you should recuse yourself from grading copper. That might sould harsh but when an incompetent person costs you money with an undeserved body bag, you don't feel kindly toward the poorly trained people who are doing the grading.
The converse of course is when you resubmit a details coin and it comes back straight graded, which in your case benefited someone else. In the case of my profile coin they (PCGS) mistook die polish for cleaning hairlines. I wasn't so much surprised as relieved when ANACS gave it a straight grade, because after examining every image I could find, many of which showed similar or identical die polish hairlines, I knew I was correct that the coin wasn't cleaned. It's the same frustration as yours when they throw a coin at a grader who has probably never seen a Canadian George VI specimen half dollar before, who just sees a "haze" and their knee-jerk reaction is "cleaned." And then it gets past supposedly two other "expert" finalizers who just go "yup" and on to the next one.
A grader who is worth his or her salt should know that cleaning lines are into the the surface of the coin. Polish marks are above the surface of the coin. You don't have to know the characteristics of a specific coin to spot that. It shows that the grader did not know their job, or than were too lazy to use a scope or a 10X glass to tell the difference. Either way it costs you money.
