I have shown this here before, a coin I've had for many years, ex Stacks in the early 90's. Question for you guys: do you think the letters of the word LIBERTY are damaged and/or strengthened in any way? I succeeded in taking better pics than I had before because I wanted to examine this area closely. What do you guys think?
To me it just looks like it took a knock there during it's life circulating. Nothing so bad as to call it damaged, though. That's a lovely original rare date coin.
I agree as well. The "ghosting" of the word Liberty on circulated coins happens and can sometimes look kind of strange. "Damage" is a moving target to me. The more a coin gets worn, the more you expect it to take some hits. The lower the grade, the more severe something has to be for me to consider it damage. Nice, rare coin sir. You do not see them often. Congratulations.
Take a look at TRUST also. I'm not a seated liberty collector, but something looks "off" on this coin.
The LIBERTY was recessed, and with heavier circulation the LIBERTY can still be clear but "weird" looking. I always called it "ghosting" when I was a heavy collector of SL halves. IMHO looks about as expected, but I agree these coins at this level of preservation can throw people off a little.
The ST in trust is a high point. In my opinion it appears to be as worn as other high points such as "IN." I could be wrong but looks okay to me. I like it.
Interesting coin for sure! Looks like someone made some pin pricks on it but I'm thinking it may have been struck by a worn die and it's just normal wear! Nice, pricey quarter!
Nice, circulated seated liberty quarter. I don't see any unusual attributes that I would call "damage."
That’s a rare coin! I agree with the other posters that LIBERTY looks consistent with the wear/battle scars that a coin like this would accumulate over the years. Do you have any other Seated Liberty Quarters from this time period? It seems like the majority of the quarters from 1866 to 1873 are really tough and expensive, particularly the Carson City issues.
As you mention, seated quarters from the 1866-1873 time period are quite scarce or downright rare, specially the CC issues. 1872 CC is the 'least rare' of the CC coins from this period. This is the only other quarter I have from this era, an 1868-S, a coin which I would consider to be moderately scarce.
