Please guess the grade of the 1949 Franklin Half Dollar shown below. I have attached a poll for you to cast your vote and you may select up to 4 different things: the numerical grade, Full Bell Lines or not, and the "+" & "*" designations. Please remember to vote in the poll and choose either FBL or NO FBL. As always, comments welcome!
A little too crusty for my liking. Hard to read the surfaces with the patina on this one. I’m sure the luster is great. Only thing catching my eye is the reed hit in front of the face. I’ll be conservative on this one. 65FBL
I think it's an MS65 FBL. It looks like the lines are all there but to be honest...with the toning it is hard to tell in some areas. I don't care for the toning, but it looks like a real clean coin.
Ok, odd man out here - I personally really like the toning. It isn't */+ worthy, but it's right in line with what I like. Oh, and as for grade, I'm also at 65FBL. If not for the hit in a prime focal location, I'd have maybe gone 66.
I was going to craft a reply after guessing MS 65 FBL but you said all that I wanted to for me (right down to the reed hit).
I was going to say I don't like it but someone probably will. That's the cool thing about collecting-there is a taste for each person out there.
MS 66 no FBL because it is NGC and they count the upper set of lines which have a hit interrupting them on the left side.
I called it MS-65 Not FBL. Everyone else has mentioned the reason I would give for the numerical grade. The hits right at the bottom edge of the bell have interrupted the very bottom bell line.
I went with 64 FBL, Ithink the reed marks in front of the nose hold it back from gem. bell lines hard to read due to toning but I think they are complete.
Shout out to @potty dollar 1878 for the only one to get this right. Personally, I think the reed mark in front of the face and the overall crustiness of the coin should have kept it at MS65 the reverse is rather nice and the bell lines are solid.
I don't care for the toning, which I would call "tarnish." This is probably a mint set coin since the cardboard holders often (but not always) imparted this kind of toning on the coins.
