Am i correct that the designation FBL for Franklin halves refers to the horizontal lines near the bottom of the bell? If so how does one determine if their full or not? I've been collecting Franklins for almost 5yr's and am ready to move up to higher grade and FBL examples. THANKS
Yes that is right... If you send them to NGC all lines must be fully split...not nicks to mess them up...or any brakes in the lines. If you send them to PCGS only the bottem 2 (or 3) lines must be split. It will take a 10x looking piece to see the lines good and clear. Speedy
Thanks Speedy, that's just the info i needed. Looks like i'm going to need a good 10x loop before i invest any $ into uncertified high grade Franklins. I'm going to use my trusty magnifying glass for now to inspect the Franklins in my Dansco album.
When I buy high grade coins like this I tend to stay with slabbed coins...they are easyer to resell if I need and they also make for a nice set. Speedy
I agree with Speedy about slabbed versus raw coins, but for me the excitement of collecting comes more from buying raw coins and finding a gem versus comparing or critiqueing professional grading services. Somehow, the service companies make us too dependent on them for building our collections, and they are certainly far from perfect as you can tell in reading the forums. Having said that, it is apparent that they are here to stay, so we might as well use them for the coins we may want to sell at some time or the ones where we feel they are special coins worthy of professional review.
I would also like to say that I'm not against buying Raw coins...in fact I buy raw coins and when I get a good deal I save them and send them to ANACS. Speedy
Well I do for a few reasons... Anybody can send coins to ANACS...if you send them to any place else you either have to be a dealer or join a club. Also if you send them to ANACS on the 5 day deal...you get them back faster and cheaper than any other place. And I have yet to see a big mess up...I think they grade just as good as NGC, PCGS, PCI, ICG....now many do not agree and if you start to look at key dates you will see that if you buy a 1932-D Quarter in a ANACS slab marked F, you will get it cheaper than if it was in a NGC slab marked F. Speedy
