Please Grade This 1804 Quarter

I grade this quarter, first year of issue of the Draped Bust type, at G4.

Am I being too optimistic/conservative ?

Note the minor edge tap at 12:00 on the reverse.

 

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I don't know if Half Dollar references apply but I would have also guessed some sort of Good. James

 

Opened a filing cabinet to find some Tax papers and found my 1976 ANA grading guide book. The reverse looks to have claims to VG with all that shield detail and the presence of lettering on the ribbon but the Obverse may hold her back to the good level. There is a lengthy note about strike issues with this coin type so i don't know what role that might play in a final grade. James

 

G6, i think.

 

Of the two die marriages for this year, yours is B-1, at R-3 the more common of the two. Overall, despite the obverse pin scratches, a pleasant coin that has an attractive patina.

The obverse is a solid G-06.

The rim nick on the reverse doesn't hurt it. However, while the eagle, the motto and the upper part of the legends are nice and strong, the rim wear and legend wear on the lower part of the reverse make it not better than G-04.

I believe convention says that the obverse grade decides the overall grade of the coin except where the reverse is worse than the obverse. So, if this coin's obverse is G-06 but the reverse is G-04, then the coin is G-04.

Tompkins says the B-1 is always well-struck on both obverse and reverse so we have no reason to interpret the rim to legend loss of detail on the lower half of the coin as anything but wear.

 

G-06

 

6

 

I like the coin, but I am not going to embarrass myself or you with a guess. Good luck.

 

I am at G-6 with the rims on reverse. Still a very nice coin.

 

6 all day long :

 

I'm at G4. Supersonic speed.

 

Obverse is a G-6
Reverse is a G-4
Overall, it’s would grade out to a G-4

 

G06

 

Thanks! I wasn't far off with my guess, it seems.
(not that there is much room to guess at this grade level)

This is one coin I regret not buying in a slightly better grade.

 

@Publius2 , I wasn't aware that there are cases where the obverse DOES NOT carry the grade. Thank you for the explanation.

 

I'm not aware that it's a "rule" but more of a generally accepted concept. The way I understand the logic of it, and again there may be other interpretations than mine, is thus:

The obverse grade determines the coin's overall grade so long as the reverse grade is equal to or greater than that of the obverse. IOW, the reverse grade cannot help the overall grade.

The reverse grade can hurt the overall grade that the obverse grade would otherwise have determined if the reverse grade is less than that of the obverse.

Smarter and more experienced folks than me are welcome to correct me if I have mis-understood this concept.

 

I think it's a great coin. I would be happy to have it in my type set.