Since I have been taking pictures tonight of all my coins, maybe you all can help settle an old argument. I picked this up on ebay (raw). It was sold as AU. What drew me to it were the eagle feathers which I thought were borderline uncirculated (hence I think I overpaid). I brought this in to my dealer for an opinion and he thought the coin was high-end XF. I think the coin is AU with a weak strike (the 'A' and 'T' drop off in the word 'STATES'). I have a pretty knowledgeable (arguably) friend who thinks this coin is uncirculated (maybe a MS-62/63BR) with a very weak strike. He told me FE's are known for this because the mint had a hard time with die life when striking FE's, so they often used tired dies. He says the weak motto is classic on these and the eagle's breast feathers are always the first to show wear. I've been threatening to submit this just to settle this debate. Who's right (if anyone)? Any other comments will be appreciated.
flier: First: Nice coin. Second: Once again, what is that crud in the devices? Actually, they did not necessarily use tired dies, the dies worn out quickly because they were using this 'new' nickel compound that caused rapid die wear and breakage due to the hardness of the metal. Personally, you have a shot AU, but I'd be more concerned about the crud, and would want to be sure that it won't 'grow.' Good luck
I'd definitely get it slabbed. I would guess the coin to be in AU,but there are funny attributes about that coin.
I grade it AU---but then if the coin was mine I would more than likely send it in to NGC also! Speedy
Okay, everyone convinced me to slab. I'll send it in. My only question is: will the slab stop the green crap from growing? By the way, very nice coin mrbklyn!
If the green stuff is growing you have a big problem--more than likely that will make the coin un-slabbable---that could be PVC. If it is you need to get some Acetone (PURE) and put the coin in it---search the forum for Acetone----if that is just crud like I see soemtimes then its not growing and they might slab it----a slab doesn't stop anything---unlike many people think a slab is NOT airtight and coins can tone and change in the slabs--RED cents might turn BROWN...and so on... Speedy
I say AU-55. The legends often do come poorly struck, especially 'United States', and a little lack of detail in the breast feathers and the eagle's wings is forgiveable since FE's are copper-nickel, but your coin has a bit too much wear/rub for me to say Unc.
1858 flying eagle/ weak srike Flying eagles were know as problematic coins. The dies were oftem weak. The waer on your coin is common to the die. It is also obvious that the wear is not even. Except for the proofs, ot os likely this is an XF/AU or better.
http://www.indiancent.com/market/58s1c50r5.jpg Rick Snow graded this coin for me and your coin looks better than this one. I'd say AU-58
LOL. Already responded to this thread, it was bumped up, and I answered again with a different grade. IMO, a nice AU.
sf340flier, that looks like either PVC or verdigris on your coin. Who really knows because the colors can look so different on the computer. I'd send it to NCS and let them clean it up. I believe that what NCS would do to it would help it a lot. After that, if it's "slabbable" they'll send it to NGC. If not, they'll slab it in an NCS holder (which is nice too). Also, my guess is that it looks XF/AU to me too...still a very nice looking coin!
