Help with luster on my NEWP and GTG

I picked up 2 new items at CSNS last week. One was a so-so 1923 Peace $ to start my long planned for MS set of that series. For the second piece, I broke two of my personal collecting "rules": (1) Don't buy coins that are not currently part of a set you are looking to build and (2) Don't buy coins from series that you haven't already thoroughly researched.

And so I ask you, the good people of CT, to help educate me on this 1946-S quarter. I have attached 2 photos of the same coin with different lighting. The first photo better shows the appearance of the coin in hand. What made the coin jump out at me was the white-ish nature of the luster (I hesitate to call it haze, because I associate that with unattractive toning and I hope/think that isn't what this is). I have read of "frosty" vs. "satiny" luster in various books on other series. Is one of those descriptions appropriate for this coin's appearance? Finally, are Washington quarters commonly known to look this way or are there other series that are known to often have this appearance (Peace $s and SLQs, where I spend most of my time, don't seem to)? I know this isn't "rare", but I find I really like this look and I'm interested in finding other items with a similar appearance (plus it's frustrating not to know how to describe it!).

To make it a bit more fun (and selfishly to attract more interest), I decided to also make this post a GTG. I will post the grade at 10pm EDT on 5/6.







Feel free to yell at me to go read the guide book if the answers to all my questions are in there.

Thanks all!

 

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Attractive. I'll guess MS65. I probably know less about quarters than you do though.

 

We can't guess the grade unless you post photos of the reverse.

 

Beautiful GEM coin.

 

I find your coin to be lustrous and very attractive. I would guess MS 64 at a minimum and probably MS 65.

 

Nice eye appeal and luster. I would say 65+

 

I’d call that more satiny if I was to use a description but what I would call that is a very eye appealing attractive coin which I think is correctly graded at ms 65 . Nice pickup

 

I will guess 64 with a few small ticks to George's head

 

64-65ish

 

64

 

Hello again.

Thanks for your thoughts/comments. This reminded me to revisit an old post that I read a while ago but forgot about:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/luster-a-guide-for-beginners.58435/

Anyway, now the reveal:



Score 1 point for market grading, I suppose!

 

I'm not surprised...I have several 66s which don't even compare with the 65s in overall appeal.

 

very nice original piece

 

Don't get addicted to the "CAC trap." Years ago this coin could have been graded from MS-64 to MS-65. The minor disturbances on Washington’s cheek and jaw would have precluded MS-66, but with grade-flation, it’s now accepted. Rather than discouraging grade-flation, CAC has too often bought into it.

 

Not with my Washington 25c, unfortunately. I submitted a bunch of 66 full luster coins, and none of them earned a green bean. Go figure!

 

It's lovely and original.........every once in awhile we spy something outside of our collecting realm. Something that 'speaks' to us. You didn't do half bad my friend......

 

I have an 1882 Morgan Dollar with that white frosty luster. PCGS MS65 CAC. It looks like shaved ice.

 

Shaved ice goes good with scotch.

 

Going to go with the satin term. Not sure of this frosty term. Not sure what frosty Would look like on a coin. But my daughter does love the Wendy's frosties