Your hardest coin to grade

Been bopping around the site and saw a few Ike Dollar threads. One concerns grading them.

So here's my question. What coins do YOU have problems grading? I know everyone probably has at least one series that gives them fits. I've been doing this a long time and will share my list.

Peace Dollars
Walkers
Franklins
Early Washington Quarters
Ike Dollars

Fortunately I'm not a huge collector of any of these series. On the other hand maybe the grading issue is part of the problem. I buy most of my coins raw and if I can't reasonably grade it I'm not comfortable with it.

IMHO the common trait in these coins is that they don't have much detail to begin with. Hard to tell slight wear when there was nothing there to begin with.

Anyone else want to jump in?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I suppose the Indian Head Quarter Eagle, and Half Eagle (1908-1929) give me the most trouble.

 

Franklins for the exact reason....lack of detail.
Buffalo Nickels scare me because I'm not so familiar with the weakness of strike vs wear, thats a series I need to take on and learn, I love the coin, but a little squeamish when the differance between a vf and an xf can be lots of bucks.

 

gold (lack of experience).
Franklins-- lack of detail.
Peace dollars: esp the 1921. So much detail, so little time.

 

Gold has always been a problem for me---I guess it's because I'm not around it much
Other than that there are a few types that give me problems but I'm working on those and am trying to sharpen up my skills.

Speedy

 

Walkers, standing liberties, ikes, and indian quarter eagles.

 

I've for some reason always had a problem with morgans, getting better though, that and gold, I'm never around it

 

I've heard that gold 5 and 10 dollars Indians are very hard in higher grades, but I can't afford them.
I have found that Peace Dollars are the hardest US silver coin with its open fields and detail to grade. I also agree that Franklins are up there on the list of coins difficult to grade. Open fields and lack of details.

 

I have about 200 40% silver Ikes that are still in there Brown box and Blue Packs. I know it is going to be hard to grade the Blues since the platic on them is hard to tell if a mark is on the coin or wrap. Someday I will have to pick the best one and get them slabbed.

 

Washington Quarters and Franklin Halves are the hardest for me to grade. I always try to go by the reverses of each to get a close grade but the obverses of these, especially early Washington Quarters, lack detail as previously mentioned. I dont have much of a problem with other series.

 

How about everything - when doing it based off pictures!!! Too many for me to name - the shorter list are those that I am learning: Large cents, IHC, shield nickels and morgans(cause my father keeps making me look ).

 

Circulated washington quarters, 2.5 and 5 indians can be tough, and standing liberty quarters that have issues with the dates being worn. And colonials.

 

For me there's no question... Franklin Halves. Hands down due to lack of design elements and flatness of the design I find them the most difficult for me to grade. Lots of others can be tough to grade, but for the life of me, I wouldn't trust a grade from me on a Franklin, lol.

 

Tell me about it! NGC can't even get it right! I have a 1932-S Quarter graded by NGC AU53 that has been lightly cleaned. This coin at best is XF45 and even if it did get a + because of it being a key date it would only go AU50!

Speedy

 

Buffalo nickels without Full Details

 

For me, Washington quarters are hardest, but Franklin halves and Ike dollars are very tough too.

 

THAT is the hardest coin to grade. Lol. I know you weren't counting ancients, but still. The thing is as struck, mint state except for the tiny patch of corrosion to the left of the bust. But its ugly as anything.

Outside of ancients, I'd say the hardest thing to grade is anything from Poor 1 to AG 3. Everyone frets about the difference between MS 64 and MS 65. But theres only a one point difference at the bottom too. :-D

 

Same with me and what looks like many others.
However, I try not to worry about grading most of my coins. For evaluation purposes, I just put down something in the middle for everything. Makes no difference since none are for sale anyway.

 

Hmm

My take is:
Wash Quarters, Franklin Halves, I would add Merc dimes as far as semi-modern coins.... Strike is utmost, luster and eye originality are key. It is SO hard, unless you have experience....

Gold is always a problem....

Morgans, DUH, you must own, buy and sell Morgans to have a handle....

Older series that I favor, such as Bust Halves..... hmmmm, 9 out of 10 coins from VG-XF and the AU and MS have been cleaned sometime back in the day. Experience. Older cleaning (kinda OK) . You kinda get a handle on the original appearance. Just like the Morgans.

I won`t tackle REALLY MODERN Coin grading.........