Ok, since I stink at grading, even reading descriptions on how often perplexes me. One is the term "luster". Does it only mean shiny, or what? Well, while this coin has a few blemishes I think I just learned. I wish a 600 dpi scanner could capture it, but this glows!!! It was her birth coin, and while never stored well and probably often handled it was removed from circulation that same year. Now I have one favorite coin from a Grandparent on both sides of the family. Here it is, and any thoughts on grade would be great too, beyond the part of it's Grandma's and it glows
Luster is how light reflects off the surface of a coin . The dies cause the metal to move and leaves flow lines on the surface of the coin . When you hold the coin and turn it slowly the light will reflect in different directions because of these flow lines , that's the luster .
Yeah, and I can see it in this coin. Others I can as well, others are simply "shiny". I think the way I need to think of it myself is to compare my silver plated trumpet in school to those with chrome. For the more modern clad coins though I still can't see it, but maybe in time. Otherwise, looks like I need to clean my scanner. I got worried about some marks in the scan and they are on the glass, lol, whew! Time to get it into a 2x2.
For a grade I'd say anywhere from high AU-58 to MS-63 , kind of hard to grade from a scan . Also it looks like it was cleaned once and the wiped clean , which should never be done because it leaves lines like the ones you have on the reverse , best to pat it dry as wiping will drag dirt across the surfaces and create hairlines . But it's still a beautiful coin and heirloom which you should be proud of . And yes get it in some protection .
She swears it was never "cleaned", but being hers since she was young I'm sure it's been wiped and rubbed many times. Not to mention contact with whatever she stored it with through the years.
LOL, yeah, one in a jewlry box, one with the underwear, one here and there inside old cards. In the end we accumulated: 2 1965 Kennedy halves 40% 20 1964 Kennedy halves 7 1964 Washington quarters 1 1964 Roosevelt dime 8 Morgan dollars 1 Barber half 3 Walking Liberty halves 2 Mercury dimes I found what looks like a really nice 1883 Liberty Nickle in a little tin in another box I've been sorting. Her 1964 hoard all looks uncirculated but so common. Most of the rest are a pretty wide range. There's also a box of heavily circulated Indian Head cents with some late 1800's Canadian copper and some kind of tokens I've not tried to figure out yet. Even with an initial small pile my Dad had dug up sorting her house she said she wanted it sold. Nobody else was interested and Dad didn't want to drive 2 hours to a coin dealer so we agreed I could buy it at silver value. I brought about what it would take and then got worried as we continued finding more. Then Grandma wouldn't even take full silver value and we settled on $300 for the lot. OH, and an 1870 3 cent piece which is causing my some OCD grief! Do I put it in with pennies since it is cents, nickles because it's closer to 5 cents and made of nickles, or dimes because it looks like one? lol I don't have much that old so just going to start a misc. page. The 1854 large cent I found when sorting mt grandfather on the other sides stuff can join it.
Sounds like the start of a nice collection , now you need to get a Redbook , "A guide Book of United States Coins" by R.S.Yeoman and Ken Bressett and a good grading book , the ANA 7the Edition is the best in my opinion , both books are must haves , especially the Red Book for any collector . Good luck with your collecting .
Very nice family coin! I would add to Rusty's luster description in that with strong, mint luster you will also see what we call "cart wheel luster". When you hold the coin under light and tilt it back and forth you should see "spokes" of light that appear to be going from the center out and moving around....like the spokes on a cart wheel. This type of luster is VERY revealing to the trained eye in that you can see imperfections in the surface as the spokes travel around. We call these "luster breaks" and they will reduce a coins grade. Learning about luster is extremely easy! Just pull out some fresh pocket change, put it under an overhead light and look. Tilt the coin back and forth and look for the cartwheel spokes.
It is a nice family coin. Very common date, so no need to worry about value. As regards luster, a picture or scan like that will not show luster. From that image, it has a washed out look, that seems as if it were dipped. However, I suspect the lighting, that is washing out the coin as well. To me, it looks AU, and probably cleaned at one time (not necessarily by your family).
