I recently purchased this 1892 Columbian Expo half and I was just wondering what the grade may be and if it was worth getting certified. I have seen several that looked a lot lower in grade be MS-65 but the gradeing company was not one of the better companys. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Ben
A very good XF I'd say.MS-65 is a tough grade to find on any coin that's 113 years old.When I bought mine,it was supposedly MS-60 but even that could be high.More like AU under a good lens.An interesting fact about these Columbians is that when they went on sale at the fair in 1892,they sold for $1.00 each and so many people at that time refused to pay double for it that many were left over.I have no idea why they decided to mint a '93 issue but the unsold ones and even some of the purchased souvenirs ended up in circulation.This is why you see so many g-xf examples in coin shops.
Yours may be cleaned....but is in far better shape than the one my dad took an eraser to when he was a kid
lawdog, If you're talking about mine,yes it was cleaned at one time,that's why I would call it about AU (by the way,can a cleaned coin also be UNC??) and no higher.I bought it because it has zero wear.Purty tho huh?
Hi, Many Uncirculated coins have been cleaned. Copper coins often look a little orange(ish) (NEW WORD) And silver looks "too white" for the age. If a coin is chemically cleaned, it will actually remove a microscopic layer of metal from a coin that is very difficult to detect. If a coin is abrasively cleaned, a technically Uncirculated coin loses some grading points. A description of a coin should be as exacting as is possible. You may be able to accurately describe it as Uncirculated but cleaned, describing the way the cleaning damaged the coins. Example: 1892 Columbian Exposition Half Dollar ,Uncirculated, Lightly cleaned, shows minute hairlines under 8X magnification. Depending on how harshly cleaned a coin may be, an Uncirculated coin may not grade more than XF. I hope this helps. Have Fun, Bill
