1940s half dollar - grade ?

That was hilarious! Biggest smile I have had all day, thanks Mike.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

This is a great lesson. Thanks Mike.

 

Taking into account what Paul and Mike have said and assuming that it would grade MS64, would it really be worth it for the OP to ship this from overseas to be graded?

Chris

 

My only concern with the coin is if it has been overdipped or the stain is overly bad in-hand. Tough to judge with the overexposed photo. Doesn't appear like it, but it's a tough call for me to make. I certainly think it's worth a shot, and I see nothing that screams to me no chance either.

 

Lustre looks pretty good in hand, doubt that it's been dipped, especially due to the staining on the obverse.

 

Sometimes the stain will have been a dark black area, and a coin is dipped to remove it. It gets rid of most of the black area, but leaves behind a darker area of stain. Or it could just be a stain or some grease or even just some light clouding.

Consider this: Is the luster strong under the dark area? Does it cartwheel uninterrupted, is it slightly dulled, or has it disappeared entirely? That's a key question, IMO, in understanding what you have in your hands.

Frankly, I have a tough time believing any silver from 1940 doesn't have some toning, and I see virtually nothing on your coin outside that area on the obverse. That has me scratching my head a bit, thinking it has been dipped at some point -- but of course it could be the photo.

It's clearly a nice clean coin, not many hits at all, and if the luster is all you say it is, I'd think it will be at least a 64 and likely higher. If the luster has been fried from overdipping, it could come back in a problem holder for something like "altered surfaces" or "cleaned".

Hope this helps...Mike

 

If you don't mind my asking, where did you get this coin?

I'm just curious.

 

The lustre is a little subdued under the stain. It is extremely bright, and there are almost no bagmarks, just a very small rim nick. I'll upload some higher definition photographs (those were the sellers').

 

Here are some better photographs - the reverse lustre looks much nicer, like this, in hand.

I bought it off eBay. Feel like flipping it now, as I've just seen a really nice thaler which I need for one of my type sets and would need to raise some funds.