Hello everyone, Please take a moment to throw a grade at these. You have to open the attachments to see the obverse's. Still working at this. Thanks, Steve
The O mint coin looks to have been harshly cleaned and looks to be damaged as well. The S mint coin is AU55 I'd say.
Its my photos Doug, it has to be. The 1885-s is PCGS MS-65. The 1895-O is at least AU-50. I am working on a picture box type system to get better pictures. Thanks, Steve
Sure wouldn't be the first time I disagreed with a TPG. On the S mint coins the hair, the cheek, the bonnet, some of the stars, the wing tips, the eagles breast - they all look to have wear to me. As for the O mint - the 2 gouges on the cheek and in front of the neck should be classified as damage. And the fine scratches visible all over the coin indicate harsh cleaning.
Thanks guys, the 95-O I picked up at a yard sale for $50.00, but I can see I have to start looking at things differently. I wasnt thinking "damage" as to the marks on Libertys cheek and in front of her neck. But it is what it is. Doug, your killing me with the AU rate on the 85-S. I really thought I had something there, paid $500 at auction. Thank you, Steve
Steve - it's possible I'm wrong, but I doubt it. There's a couple reasons for that. 1 - I see what I see on the coin. And what I see looks like wear to me. The '85-S is known for having an average strike, but is not known for being weakly struck. Now that flat spot on the hair can be due to wear or due to a weak strike. A weak strike flat spot has a certain color and a wear flat spot has a certain color. That one has the color of wear. And since the coin is not known for being weakly struck then it probably is wear. 2 - the '85-S is a scarce date. The TPG's make allowances and bump the grades for scarce date coins. AU's are graded MS almost routinely. Overall the coin is pretty clean and that's why it went 65 instead of 63 or 64. But I believe the reality is that the coin is AU for the reasons I have explained. Now you got one thing going for you - the plastic. There are a great many people who will buy coins because of the plastic. Some of them don't know how to grade well enough to tell if the TPG was right or not and some just don't care. So if you wanted to sell the coin you easily could. Now you say you paid $500 for that coin. Well, the '85-S in MS65 typically sells for $1500 - all day long - and has for 10 years or more. So what's that tell you about the grade ? I dunno about you, but it tells me that I am right about my opinion of the grade. But you should easily be able to sell it and get your money back and probably a profit.
Thanks Doug, Im at work or Id pull it out now, very interesting as to your evaluation of the flat spots, and making a wear determination, you guys are gonna have to start charging me for this stuff. Steve
