Full Steps????

I've been collecting for a while but just starting to try and grade coins. I was able to obtain a BU roll of 1948-S Jefferson's. I started to look for ones with Full Steps and came across this one. So my question is, does it have full steps in your guy's opinion? And, if so, what do you think it would grade. I'd love to send it in but wouldn't want to waste my money. The pictures of the whole coin were taken with phone(Amazing the pictures phones will take now a days) The upclose was a screenshot taken with a Digital Microscope I got off of Amazon. Thanks for any help.

 

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I think it is missing the steps above the "C", but I'm no expert. Maybe @Lehigh96 will chime in. ~ Chris

 

I think that is a no brainer 5 full steps and it is close to 6 full steps. The reverse looks to be a solid MS65, but your obverse photo is angled, out of focus, and seems to show a much different luster profile than the reverse. I can't grade the obverse from that photo. I see no major hits that would keep it from MS65 though so that is good. However, I also don't see the requisite luster to get a premium gem grade which is really what you would need in order to make grading worthwhile. To give you an idea, this is what an 1948-S MS66 5FS looks like.

 

That's a nice looking Jefferson.

 

First off, Lehigh96, I REALLY appreciate you giving me your opinion. I took a few more pictures that hopefully help you out since my others were not focused and angled. Also, it does have pretty good luster. I tried to take a picture to show that but the color is still off.

 

Ok, that photo is much much better. And I agree with you that the luster is pretty good, the eye appeal is nice, and I think it is an easy MS65 5FS. There are some marks on the coin that I think would prevent it from getting MS66 5FS, but the price difference is significant enough that I think it would be worth a one shot submission. A 1948-S in MS65 5FS runs about $25 so you would basically recoup the grading fee if you ever decided to sell it.

Do you have other coins that you can submit, or is it just this coin? If you only have a single coin, you are much better off piggybacking on someone else's submission. I will be submitting a nice batch of Jefferson Nickels to NGC once the corona virus pandemic is over. PM me if you are interested in piggybacking your coin with my submission.

Paul

 

Thanks again. Like I said, I have a whole BU roll and actually finding several '48's that are close like this one to having FS. I'd definitely be interested in having you submit for me. Let me finish looking through this roll and I'll get a hold of you. Dave

 

Sounds good, I found a couple other full steps 48-S in my photo library for you to use as a comparison. The MS66 5FS shown earlier in this thread is extremely high end for the grade and IMO should be an MS67 5FS. The examples shown below are more representative for the actually grades.




Happy hunting!

 

Thanks for all of your input, Paul! You've shown that I don't know a hill of beans about grading Jeffs, but I'm not offended. You have been quite helpful to many others over the years. ~ Chris

 

I little bit of this and elbow grease will take those scratches right out!

 

LOL, I will let the guy who I sold it to know. I'm just too lazy to go buffing up scratched up slabs.

 

Not s full step coin. The bottom step is broken the the middle.

 

It's a beautiful coin. IMO, I agree with @cpm9ball , your 48-S is not a full step coin. Nor is it even 5 steps. In addition to the bottom step above the C not being full, the 3rd step up from the bottom, above the N, T, almost reaching the I is incomplete. The line for the step starting from the right looks good but the line ends between the T and I. There's a big gap between the 2nd and 4th steps. Maybe it's the lighting, but I don't see a complete step.
EDIT. I based my opinion on the closeup photo of your coin.

 

Never mind.

 

The bottom step doesn’t need to be complete. Both PCGS & NGC recognize 5 steps as full steps.

 

The entire 4th step is weak, but I don’t see any breaks in it. And NGC is more lenient with the full step designation on the post war issues. I’m very confident this coin will get 5FS.

 

For the OP's benefit, I hope it does.

 

During the period when they were more lenient about FS I would say yes. And there
are plenty of photos here in a number of threads of slabbed FS coins that are clearly not FS. That cloud on the bottom right center is causing a continuance break on 2 steps and I only see 3 full steps. I don't think it is going to fly.
Yes it's a great coin for a business strike. But FS is the jackpot. It's going to miss.

 

I have tried in futile sometimes to get a good photo of the steps. I don't see anything wrong with them either. There is plenty of evidence that there are no bag or planchet voids in the area. It is just too bad that isn't a better struck coin, would have made a nice 6 stepper.