Hi all! Most of the coins that I purchase would best fit in the $50 and under thread, but this is my first big purchase, and I am very excited about it! I am fascinated by early American history, and I think that I will be focusing my future collecting mostly on early copper. If you could give your thoughts on grade and why, that will be a big help for me in honing my grading skills on similar coins in the future. Thanks for taking a look! Pictures of the coin from the PCGS site .
Reverse is nice and if all coins were graded the same, the VG 10 is very close. But old copper gets a little leeway. I am around F-12 max F-15 if the obv was as nice as the rev.
Rims are gone. Obv has little detail left, and most is in the hair. Some rim showing on rev, but most is smooth. I'll go G-06, but my gut says G-04
Thank you for all of the replies! I will post what PCGS thought when I get home from work. In the meantime, does anyone have a good online resource to help with attribution? Thanks again!
It is hard to find one of those in good, clean condition. Many are porous, or have weak spots. Little or no rim is not unusual, and same with a strong reverse. They were hand struck with a turnstile press. Many have weak obverse/strong reverse. That is why the date and the word states are weak. Same with the rim. Otherwise, its a fine coin. Nothing is actually worn off, with all the prime details readable. It has clean fields and a nice color too. The fact these coins were struck by hand 220 years ago is why they are given a little leeway, because much of what we see as bad, is at least partly the result of the minting process. A weak strike, off-center, etc.
Thank you all for the replies- especially for taking he time to outline some of your thoughts! And now for the big reveal: it seems as though Michael k has hit the nail on the head!
Interesting. I was using the PCGS photograde for DBC's to give my guess. I guess even PCGS doesn't use it as a guide. https://www.pcgs.com/photograde/#/DrapedBustCent/Grades
On Facebook, eveyone complains how everybody that is not NGC/PCGS overgrades coins. No wonder how they have been able to let standards slide a bit.