Hey guys, how do you feel about this $5 1909 D? How would you grade it? What would be a good price for it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1dMpIdAdcs https://www.pcgs.com/photograde#/5Ind/Grades Greetings from Germany Alex
Coincidently, I had a 1909-D $5 Half Eagle that looked nicer than yours. I sent it to NGC thinking it would get MS63. It came back AU-Details (cleaned). That was enough to tell me I know nothing about gold coins. I won't buy uncertified gold coins...unless I get them directly from the Mint.
That one looks quite nice. AU-58 is my grade. It looks like there's only the slightest trace of wear on the highest points of the Indian, on top of the scratches and contact marks.
58+ I don't want you think I am questioning the piece, but I haven't seen a 1909-D with the D in that particular position. It may just be a die I have not seen before.
Yeah, my 1911-D does not have the mintmark tilted like that, but since I think they were hand punched in the die it certainly could be possible to have it a bit off kilter.
The mintage of the year 1909 D was 3,423,560 pieces. There must have been lots of dies with different manually engraved mintmarks. On top of them a die has to be polished and reworked during it's life span. I know for example that $2,5 1911 D was made with only two dies. It has a mintage of 55,600 pieces. As a rough estimation one die worked for about 28,000 coins. So there must have been more than 100 different dies for the tremendous mintage of $5 1909 D. I paid 880 Euros for the new 1909 D. It has the typical color and finish of an Indian Head of this year and I am 100 % sure that it is genuine. I find that it is superior to my Ms63 pieces that are already slabbed. The big question is: Does the 1909 D has a realistic chance of getting a Ms64? It is certainly not worse than Ms63. I own $5 1911 D as well. This coin was gradet by NGC with Au58. I usualy buy rawr coins, because of high quality coins in slabs are too expansive.
This is a very good book when it comes to counterfeits. Fortunately they are not a big deal for a well educated collector! https://www.amazon.de/Counterfeit-D...s=COUNTERFEIT+DETECTION&qid=1629497416&sr=8-1
Just because this coin looks “better” than your certified examples doesn’t mean it will grade as high or even higher. TPGS adapt their grading “standards”, they’re not always consistent and sliders can go either way… Personally, I don’t think it will grade MS64 due to wear/weak strike/surface preservation.
I am leaning out of the Window and would like to see the coin of the OP in a MS63 holder. Nice, Full Luster all over the devices, but too Many nicks and Imperfections in the Open fields to be MS64. But a nice, Honest piece, for sure.
Thank you very much for all the inout concerning this $5 1909 D. I compared it to many slabbed coins from different companies and slab generations and I came to the conclusion that @Rheingold and @micbraun are right. There are too many smal imperfections for an Ms64. It's a very solid coin, but the price I paid was too high for another Ms63 of this year and so I will return it. Greetings from Germany Alex