I rather like this coin that was purchased slabbed - which I generally do not do as the sellers act like they are on crack when it comes to pricing!! In hand it is VERY proof like and only see extremely light hairlines on obverse with 5+ magnification; the photos are above 10x magnification of this dime-sized coin. Anyway, I don't necessarily agree with the assigned PCGS grade and show it here for your selection and delight:
Nice looking coin! What was the grade given, whether you agree with it or not, someone may be able to explain why it was graded the way it was.
They gave it a 55. It is my coin, and not particularly rare so I don’t have a big stake in it but would have given it 58-62 range, I have quite a few graded and ungraded Young Head half sovs and this does appear superior to the other 55s. Grade not all that important so really just showing a decent coin. 65 quality half sovs are the big boys, especially the rare dates - I have never seen an 1845 in this grade as an example....
Thats nuts, your coin is at least a MS-63. I have seen MS-64/65s that are not as nice as your example. Here is my 63/ Norweb coin/ yours is way better.
The obverse appears to have some hairlines and rub, so I don’t think AU is out of the question. Could be just the pictures.
IMO light hairlines in hand, but commiserate with 58-62. The coin has really stirring PL appearance in hand and even across the coffee table! Tell you what, I will post a picture of a PCGS 55 of a very rare date (1879) so that you might see, even if I acknowledge differences between coins. I will say that I was familiar with the Terner sale coin as well, so feel confident about the grading estimate I gave... Again please note the above photos are at least 10x mag, so really blow up what are minimal findings. Just for fun I will stick in an actual size photo later as well.
Here’s a couple pics as promised : 1879 half sov obverse and reverse (even these are larger by 2.5 - 5 x on my Apple 13 inch screen), and also two pics of the NGC graded 58 [and EXTREMELY rare 1845):
Which might be worth 20x the value of the 1864 as it may be "finest known" or at least finest graded.
I was not looking at huge pics when I saw hairlines. They are quite obvious in a couple of your obverse pics, even at small size on my phone screen.
And words - hairlines - that I already used in two posts. Now here is a “62” by the same company (and the photo makes this coin look BETTER than it really is):
Which is what you would expect a 62 gold coin to look like. Pictures also play a major role in how something is presented and you're comparing very different dates as well.
We have a Canadian TPG service up here (CCCS) I had a coin graded AU58 by them/ I had it reslabbed by PGGS for the fun of it. It came back MS-66. Later, I found that CCCS grades along UK/European rules. A MS coin must be FDC or US MS-67+
I have very few foreign coins, only because my father collected them when he was in the Navy during WWII. I do have a German One Pfennig. I put them all in 2x2s and will do a write up about them for my son. Anyway, I really like your coin.
