Going through some old coins on my grandfather's. Found this 1963-D, Franklin, 50C. Would like your opinion of the bell lines, please. The pic is probably not the best quality. My apologies... Thanks, b
Definitely not FBL. While the 63D had the highest mintage, it also had a generally poor strike. Because so many of them were made, there are plenty of FBL's available - but statistically, they have a very low percentage. Here is an example of a 1963D that I used to own, graded NGC MS-65FBL. Noitice on my coin, both sets of lines are full and bold, except for just near the crack. There are a couple of minor tick-marks that cross the bell lines, but minor marks like this are allowed. However, both the top and bottom set of lines must be complete all the way across. On your coin, the lines are indistinct on the left side. This is more pronounced on the top set of lines, but the bottom set are also mushy to the left of the crack.
It used to be that seeing "Pass & Stow" was considered a full strike, since that is the highest part of the Bell. That didn't take into account the metal that Ben sucked up.
