This is an 1845 Seated Liberty Half dollar that is part of my collection. I recently spoke to a relative who has appraised coins before and said that it could definitely be EF-40, and could be borderline AU-50. There are some definite contact points and there is some where on the eagle's feathers. Thoughts? Thanks, ~mrtrek
What is all the white junk in some of the devices and denticles? Possibly cleaned? If not cleaned it would be XF40. Lackof luster in the pics really hurts this coin.
No, the coin is not cleaned, but I can't tell what the white gunk is. As for the luster, there is some when you see it in person... not a lot, but some. The pictures did not show any of the luster at all. ~mrtrek
With very little luster you are maxxed out at XF40. The amount of luster with some wear often puts it into or out of AU.
Sounds good. Just one more pic... it gives a better idea of the amount of luster: (obviously, the upper right hand corner is not luster, rather the glare of the nearby worklamp) ~mrtrek
I would say the coin has been dipped - that's why the white stuff and little luster. I also think the coin shows signs of corrosion - probably found in the ground or salt water at one point - which would explain the dipping. Because of the wear on the reverse, wing tips, wing edges, left leg & claw I could not grade the coin higher than XF40. But because of what appears to be corrosion I would have to net grade it as VF30.
Though I still can't explain the white stuff, I am 99% sure this coin was never dipped. It has been in a plastic cointainer in a plastic drawer for years, and I believe my grandfather was the first collector to have this coin. I am quite positive that it has never been dipped. Just a side note, the lighting in the picture does not show the small amount of attractive toning on this coin as well. I'm not sure if this helps at all, but I thought I'd give you an update here.
It has only been in recent times, say maybe the 1950's, that coin cleaning has been considered a no-no. In the old days - the majority of coin collectors DID clean their coins. The chemicals used to dip coins in have existed since the 1800's.
