I have this raw Standing Liberty quarter and four mediocre pictures. Is it possible to guess a grade? In hand, the coin has a light purple cast and cartwheel luster. There is a surface tarnishing that appears as spots under magnification. The two lines that look like scratches on the second photo are not on the coin - apparently a photographic artifact of some type. What do you think?
Hard to tell from these pics, but the reverse looks possibly cleaned. I see a pattern of hairlines in the direction of approximately 2:00 to approximately 8:00. If not cleaned, based on your description of the luster and the detail apparent in the pic, it's at least high AU if not MS.
Looks AU55/58, possibly details. Can't really tell from these photos, but the surfaces definitely look off.
Au-55, maybe 58. Cleaned for sure. You can see the scratch lines on the reverse. It may not grade due to the cleaning but details for sure.
I have to run, but I will try to post a closer picture of the reverse. Will it be marks in the toning or on the coin??? Stay tuned tomorrow!
I did promise... The blue color is mostly the sky - I took this in front of a window. These look more like irregularities in the toning. Do you think they are scratches in the coin?
Looks like AT (artificial toning) or a chemical alteration to hide the coin's surface. Scratches from cleaning are not that wide. The bright lines on the original photos provide evidence of mishandling or cleaning. The coin is also AU due to the change of color on the high spots.
No. Die polish is NOT shiny and into the coin. Check out the leg the top photo @Stevearino. Look for the short, parallel, shiny patch of horizontal, hairline CUTS into the leg. All the other bright lines are hairlines from cleaning but it is NOT harshly cleaned. As to AU vs MS: Coin has definite friction wear or if some insist "cabinet friction." Nevertheless, coins like this are sold to uninformed collectors or informed collectors who have more tolerance for unoriginal coins showing loss of luster and detail than others like me. IMO, Max grade for an honest dealer is MS-60. If you check out the last photo of the reverse in Post #1, you will see the slightly brownish color (indicating wear) on the inside edge of the wing. The gray-brown also shows all over "Liberty's" body in one photo.