I have close to a complete set of the half mark and mark, missing only the key dates unfortunately. I look at the shield and the leaves when determining the grade and would judge this to be VF or VF+.
I would go at least AU. A lot of 1917 and 1918 have poor strikes. Yours appears to have weak oak leaves and die cracks but the crown is decent. I've also noticed a lot of RPM and repunched numbers(s) in the date for the 1/2M series.
I must admit that since I made my last post in this thread I have bought three PCGS MS66 coins in the 1 Mark series and I would not have graded them that high myself. So perhaps you are correct and I am too conservative in my estimate. I always prefer to err on the low side.
I know European standards tend to be more conservative. I also have a set 1/2 marks in F-AU and am missing the rare dates and Munich overdates. The date side does appear to be VF+ at best, so it depends on how much detail loss is due to wear and how much is due to strike. I know enough to sound like I know what I'm talking about, but also know that there is a lot more to learn about this series, so keep that in mind when evaluating my opinion
I'm giving it a short acetone bath then will post up some better photos this evening. Also, if @sakata , @Oldhoopster or anyone else is interested in making these coins their own, they are certainly available. I'll probably put them in a proper for sale post in a week or so but just thought I'd mention it.
Better to be a little more conservative than grading too optimistically . We germans really tend to be very careful with grading high since we only really have 4 clear grading levels. (s,ss,vz,stgl.) So in german terms I would grade this as an vz, which "translated" into the US grading system should be an XF-AU (this coin seems to be more on the AU side)
@Mark Metzger. You just posted a link to your ebay sale and this coin was listed. Based on your ebay user name and large listing it looks like you are do a lot of selling. I don't mind helping fellow collectors with grading opinions or ID help (you posted a couple requests in the last few days), but I don't appreciate when that information is used by someone else to make a profit as part of their business. A few listings here and there isn't a problem, but with a username that ends in COINS and 50+ new listings doesn't seem like a collector selling some duplicates. Shame on me if I was fooled, but shame on you if you're profiting from the rest of the CT users. If I'm overreacting, I apologize, but it would be nice to have a reasonable explanation to clear this up.
I understand the concern @Oldhoopster I am far from a dealer and am a novice at best. I have been purchasing some larger lots from some forum members to stock my young son's collection and his insatiable desire to dig through coins then selling off enough of the pieces to fund the whole operation. I recently changed my eBay username for the sake of these coin sales. I love Coin Talk and some of the friends I've made here over the past several months. I'm fascinated by the variety of world coins I have encountered and love how helpful the forum community has been. I've learned quite a bit but there's always a strange piece right around the corner so I've got plenty of learning left to do. Sorry to offend. I hope this clears things up.
Thanks for the explanation. It answered my concerns. I probably should have been a little more tactful on this
@Oldhoopster - I think you were pretty tactful in voicing your concern. However, as far as @Mark Metzger and these world coins goes, this thread should tell you a lot.
I recently won a 1916A 1/2 mark, PCGS MS66 and it arrived today. I am shocked. The leaves look flat, no better than your coin. Had it not been in a slab I would have graded it XF at best. I really have to wonder about this grade: it does not look as good in hand as the image below shows. I have raw half marks from other years which look better and I had added them to my inventory as XF. Now I am wondering if my collection of German coins is worth more than I realized.
