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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dimeguy, post: 857189, member: 19855&quot;]Please allow me to preface this post by saying I searched and found little to nothing on the forum for the past year, so if there is a thread I missed or neglected, please feel free to delete this post and/or send me to the thread. I don&#039;t want to ask the same question twice if it has already been addressed.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I&#039;m interested in putting a set of uncirculated Franklins together. Being as such, for several Saturdays now I would go to my dealer and slowly and surely he would give me pointers in how to determine the XF from AU from UNC. Well, today I walked in and he decided to surprise me with a test to see how well I&#039;ve been doing. Those Frankies in the 40&#039;s...nailed it! 60&#039;s...I didn&#039;t do too badly. Early 50&#039;s...still not up to 80% correct, but better than 70%. Mid-late fifties...not good. In fact, I failed horribly for those dates. I understand that those dates had worn dies and I&#039;m not sure if it is because of this reason that I&#039;m having so much difficulty with determining an UNC from AU. Heck, more than one occasion I labeled it XF or VF when it was supposed to be UNC. One step down is an understandable mistake in my learning eye, but two or three! Should be no excuse after three weekends of looking at Franklins. So, now that you read this paragraph and might becoming frustrated that you still don&#039;t know my purpose, allow me to ask, what are your suggestions for grading those Franklin Halves with weak dies, especially in late fifties, say from 57 and onward. And, just for your reference, below is how I go about looking at Ben and the bell. Please feel free to critique my methodology and thank you in advance for any advice you can give me in looking at those difficult Franklins.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Reverse: No reason why I start here other than because I like it better than the obverse.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Bell Lines-looking for at least 90% of complete bell lines on the two seperate rows without breaks, blendings, or nick marks.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Eagle-look at the definition of the feathers, and for feather tip number</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Bell&#039;s Pass and Stow-can I read it clearly without magnification?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Truss support rope-Rope holding the belll to the truss to be bold and not worn or blended.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Field-look for obvious abrasions and marks</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Obverse:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Franklin&#039;s cheek-is it defined to the point of having sort of a &quot;donut appearance.&quot; Basically, I look to see if the cheek area is defined enough to have a divet in the middle. (Hope this makes sense)</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Franklin&#039;s locks-should see three locks without wearing and blending between the borders of these three</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Franklin&#039;s ear-should be visible and a small lock wrapping around it.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Field-same as above</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Thanks for your suggestions.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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