At first, I went with MS66, but adjusted my guess to MS65 due to staining and spots. No on the FS by the TPS grading standards. Too many breaks, especially on the right side.
Yeah, I might change my mind to "No FS," too. That second step is obliterated on the right in that picture.
Well, there was only one guy who thought this coin was AU58, and the NGC graders agreed with you. Per TPG rules, only uncirculated coins are eligible for full steps, so we shall never know their opinion on the steps. Take a bow, this was a very tough one to get right. Personally, I grade this coin MS66 5FS. I see the areas of the hair that look like they have slight friction, but without any disturbance in the fields I still grade the coin as mint state. On a more general note, I have been including AU58 in all my GTG thread polls for years, and this is the first time that a Jefferson has had that grade. It had to happen eventually.
Barely missed this one. It’s been a crazy last 4 days at work with all the ice in Dallas. I would have guessed 65 5FS. Looks like a nice original crusty gem.
NGC will actually give steps to anything that they deem worthy. This was told to me by D.W. Lange himself. I thought the same thing that it had to be uncirculated. With PCGS it has to be MS but not with NGC. I actually have an AU-58 6FS coin. I think in total for all years of Jeffs at NGC there are around 35 examples. Here is the thread from NGC. https://boards.ngccoin.com/topic/425059-jefferson-nickel-graded-au-with-fs-designation/
I thought maybe it was a label error myself when I ran across it on ebay. I was going by the PCGS rules i suppose. I just assumed NGC was the same.
The wear is readily discernible. It's not the area is "sitting down" so much as it is the concomitant luster-break in the area. Together, that's wear, not strike. It's very slight, though. I'm referencing, of course, the vertical area in the hair, i.e., this area...
They blew it—that is not a circulated coin. No evidence of any wear that shows on those pictures. I agreed with 66, 5FS. What is with NGC as of recent?