(Aplolgies if this shows up twice! I think I hit "Preview" and never bothered to press "Post" because it never showed up.) Here's my first Barber Half! I'm new to collecting, and want to get a sample of some common types to start with. Very slowly, one every few months, I'm getting a nice sample of some US coin. I thought this one looked particularly nice. It's ungraded, as you can tell from the cardboard holder. I have little concept about grades. What do you guess this is? (I know it's hard to tell from a photo made through the plastic in a coin holder...)
First, welcome to the forum!! What you have there is a 1912 Barber Half dollar. As far as the grade goes, its very hard to tell from those pics but looks to have very nice detail. Maybe you could post a few larger pics if you can...that would certainly help and get you more opinions.
Larger images might help, but in the mean time, my guess is that the coin is in the low AU (AU50 to AU53) grade range. And welcome.
Barber Half I realized I said "Morgan" instead of "Barber" as soon as I hit "Post'! I guess that make me a newbie! I can click on that image and get it quite large! Is that feature only working for me? If not, try clicking this:http://www.cointalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=23473&d=1198286518
As Clembo & Indianhead stated, it looks cleaned. That's the bad news. The good news: it sure looks like an AU.
It might have been cleaned - I can't tell for certain from the images. But I see no evidence of whizzing, a term that many people apply incorrectly. "whizzing Term to describe the process of mechanically moving the metal of a lightly circulated coin to simulate luster. Usually accomplished by using a wire brush attachment on a high-speed drill."
I've heard of people "whizzing" with rock tumblers hence my statement. The obverse seems to have the tell tale scratches this would cause. Can't say for sure though as I don't really see it on the reverse which wouldn't really make sense. Either way it's still a nice coin.
I'll take it out of the holder and rephotograph it properly. This was just put on a flat-bed scanner. If it is a true "AU" that would be nice, because according to the "red book" these coins aren't that common in the better grades....
This method is sometimes used to hide the fact that the surfaces of a coin have been altered. It makes the coin appear to be an ordinary circulated coin.
