Hi all - I bought a tube of 1960 Roosevelts that had been sealed with tape and then stored in baby oil! I'd never heard of such a technique, but from the age of the tape I can tell that they'd been sealed in there for a long, long time. I've taken a few out so far and they look really terrific. Of course, like most silver coins, according to the price guides they really have little value above melt unless they are MS-65 or higher. PCGS says that the "FB" strikes are worth a few dollars more, which leads me to the fairly ignorant question, how do I tell if one of these qualifies for full bands? Neither my grading standards book nor Photograde have any explanation or examples. Here are the first two coins in the tube: Thanks for any advice! -Richard
The bands have to be distinguishable from one another, complete separation. Also, the designation on the Roosevelts are FT, or full torch, not FB, or full bands. The FB, or Full Bands is on the Mercs. These two are not FT as there is bridging, or the bands are separate then fuse together and may separate again or not, on both coins. Can also see quite a bit of wear too.
I thought that the strike designation on Roosevelts was full tourch and full bands was for Mercury dimes.
PCGS vs NGC always have to be different. One requires all horizontal torch lines to be distinct and separate in the torch. The other requires all vertical AND horizontal lines of the torch. It's fun to search and I've often thought about upgrading my set to all FTs, but there is just something about your first complete BU set as a kid and I can't bring myself to do it. I do have a couple though and will try to photo one or two for comparison if this stomach bug ever relents.
