I buy and sell a lot of these, and they are my main area of focus. With that said, I hardly ever send any in for grading unless they are toned, or pretty high grade. This one has amazing luster and really clean fields. The reverse has a small tick or two, but other than that, it looks clean! Any grade estimates? Worth sending in? First pics show detail best, second group shows some of the luster.
I'm assuming that it is MS by your post, but the light rub on the cheek is making me think AU. I'll go with my gut though, MS-64. The main problem that I see is that you've gone and bought up all of the toned examples and now you're stuck getting these ordinary non toned pieces.
There is a reason this series is very tough to grade! But it looks pretty good to me, I'm in for a 64 on this beauty..
Oh, there's been quite a few actually. But I'll grant you that I don't comment on the grade of a coin here on the forum very often, at least not for several years now. But with my students, people I help, me grading a coin as MS happens a lot.
As hard as I try, from these images - and you've done right by using differing lighting angles - the best I can do is a nice high AU, one of the few likely AU58's that actually exist. Some of the angles just offer too much "shine" on areas first exposed to contact, the cheek and broader tailfeathers below the shoulder, for doubt to be banished. In-hand, I might think differently.
Very clean, looks like 64 all day, maybe better. beaming with great detail both obv. & rev. You sending it in?
Possibly. I am wanting to send my avatar coin in to NGC, since it "environmental damaged" at pcgs. I might send this one in too.
Just be aware that PCGS has stated in their own book on grading standards that coins with wear on them can be graded as high as MS67. There are countless numbers of coins with wear on them, of all kinds and denominations, in both PCGS and NGC slabs graded as MS.
