1935 Buffalo Nickel Grade

I am curious what grade others think this coin is. I apologize for the photo quality, I took these pictures with a USB microscope. I have compared countless photos of slabbed buffalos, and my best estimate for this was MS65. I plan to take some better photos in the near future.

 

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It is a beauty! A 65 or 66?

 

AU58. conservatively

 

It's blasted a bit with the light, thinking AU.

 

AU 58

 

It’s impossible to judge the luster or even see luster breaks in those photos. I will say MS64.

 

AU-58

 

Is that the same coin?

 

Unfortunately yes! It just shows how much I need to learn about grading. I would never have sent it in to be graded had I known how low it really was.

 

Always check the high spots for wear.

 

I have read a lot about these coins not always being fully stuck. That coupled with countless photos of other graded coins I looked at gave me the feeling this coin had little to no wear. Now with information I have been learning this weekend since joining this forum, I think this coin has a lot of scratches and nicks that are from circulation. Enough so to bring it all the way down to AU55. It is entirely possible though that it does have wear on the high spots, I just cannot distinguish it with my current level of skill / equipment.

 

You are correct in your point about the strike differences with the Buffalo series, but you can distinguish the difference between a weak strike and a hammered strike by looking at other details. I’m not sure what the guidelines actually say, but I’ve always used the horn and the tail as this indicator. If these details are sharp, as they are on your coin, any flatness must have come from circulation wear. I see some slight wear around the temple as well as the ribbons by the date on the obverse, and on the front leg on the buffalo on the reverse. This is why my initial opinion was to call it an AU-58. The difference between an AU-55 and AU-58 is very small and a judgement call of the person grading the coin. I suspect that IGC called it correctly here.

 

I also used the horn (good definition) and the tail ( there, but somewhat worn) and the overall body as my tells on the reverse, and on the front, there was just a lot of bag ? marks or contact marks that I just couldn't ignore.

Overall a very decent coin, but still I thought AU58 conservatively with a possibility of slightly higher.

 

I don’t know what they were seeing. I had it in there for gem money. Having said that, ICG is good grader, as far as they all go.

 

Bag marks would determine if the coin is a low or high uncirculated, but they don’t really come into play in circulated grades. They do matter to the value of either though; eye appeal is always a factor. Your coin has very high eye appeal in my opinion, there are no overly distracting contact marks.

 

I have found this site to be helpful when I'm grading heavily circulated Buffalo nickels. It is always difficult to grade from a photo, especially with so much light on the object.
https://www.coinstudy.com/grading-buffalo-nickels.html

 

Still, AU55 for a 1935 Philadephia is purty darn good, imo. Nice coin! And now it is protected/conserved.
And other forum members benefited from your post, like yours truly...Spark

 

Just a tiny amount of wear on the hip. Quite well struck for the date.

 

I have been told to use the feather detail also.