1926 Lincoln Cent grade input

Hey there folks,
Here's a wheat Cent from my son's collection he was looking to get some grade input on. Thanks!

 

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What is that above LI ?

 

I'm not sure...

 

It has the look of an MS-63 but there are a lot of rim hits. I'm going to call it 55 or 58.

 

There are also a lot of nicks in the obverse field. If it were to get an MS grade the highest IMO would be 62. I can't tell from the photos whether it would be R or RB.

 

It's obviously circulated but there's no wear on it. Its condition is mint state. MS63.

 

It's probably a lighting artifact. My guess is it's a slider 58 to 62.

 

63 +1

Steve

 

Thanks for all the excellent feedback. My son will be thrilled with the notion that it is MS. I agree that it shows no wear but does have
It's share of hits. The color is best represented by the first and third photos rather than the second and fourth.

 

Mark, teach your son this. What he's looking for is objective evidence of wear. That rim is damaged. It's "PMD" ("Post-Mint Damage"). That's slight, so it's not going to keep the coin from a grade. When it's a lot, it will do that. Supposing you smashed it with a hammer or drilled a hole in it. It's still no wear, still mint state, but probably won't get a grade for the damage.

Teach him why he looks for wear. Why do we look for wear when we're collecting comic books? Or stamps? Or sports cards? Or notes? Or pocket watches? Or antique jewelry? It's because we value the state of preservation and want to know how close to that original the state of preservation is. There's the rationale for the grade.

He learns just that, and nothing else, and he'll never be tricked. He'll know what he's got, no matter what anyone says. Everything else in this grading game is subjective opinion, influenced by marketing. That's it.

 

A lot of hits/dings.... not an MS coin... AU at best.....Cheers, RickO

 

63 at my first gaze, but then I figured the contact marks and rim dings and thought 62.

Really nice coin. Saw no wear on the hair above the ear, nor on the shoulder, lapel or bowtie, high points I use regularly to grade. And the reverse was clean too.

The eye appeal says 63, but I use "evidence of wear" (EOW) and "evidence of circulation" (EOC) as criteria. If you throw out all subjective criteria, 58++ for EOC. And that's where Pickin and Grinnin gets his slider grade. I agree.

I avoid "wishing" a grade on a coin when grading. I use technicals (wear, CMs, strike) first, to get me in the ballpark, then subjectives (luster, eye appeal) to fine tune.

I ask myself "would others agree?", and if I would buy that coin at that grade. Then I'm confident with the grade and can argue its' merits.

Spark

 

Just checked NumisMedia for FMV...MS62:

26BN$12.00, 26RB/$15.60, and 26RD/$20.40.

Spark

 

Cool, Spark. Thanks. I'll pass it along to my boy.

 

Very nice looking coin. 62 or 63.

 

Ok AU

 

For years (>40) I have been concentrating on just filling all the slots of my coin folders, because I could never transfer the written descriptions of the various grades to cold hard coins. This thread has been very informative and has given me reason to stop lugging the penny and nickel bricks to and from the bank. Great discussion and very informative.

Since I haven't spent a lot of time grading I don't have all the abbreviations down (not the letter/number grade abbreviations). In Spark's reply, there are several abbreviations I don't recognize: BN, RB, and RD. Could someone please explain these?

Thanks,

GT

 

Those would be
BN - Brown
RB - Red / Brown
RD - red
As indications of the hue of the copper

 

Bn is brown. Rd is red. Guessing redish brown for other. Hope I'm right on last one

 

Oops