My postman brought me a present today. I know what grade I would give it, but am curious what grade you think it is. Any elaboration would be appreciated. Just to be sure, the scratches are on the holder and there is a slight discoloration on the bottom of the "E" in "AMERICA". It is only visable from certain angles. Other than the spot, the color is clean and light as if it were minted yesterday. It is even lighter than it shows on my computer anyway. Your input is appreciated.
I only see a few flecks on the jacket.....so I would say MS-66. If the discoloration is severe enough, then maybe a 65. Great looking coin though!
The coin is very clean, but it appears to be weakly struck and struck with very worn dies. Because of this I would grade it a 64, but on a good day it might get a 65 at a TPG.
The only reason you may think that is is weakly struck would be my camera. Not quite as sharp as the 1917 I posted earlier, but it is close.
WOW! That is a monster strike. Is it a proof? I'm guessing business strike based on the rims, but I've been wrong a good many of times before.
This is a tricky one to grade IMO. The strike is amazing. The toning is a pleasing red brown, however it is not as uniform as I'd like(I'm very doubtful in this case that the coin was worked on, but as always, I've been wrong before). The surfaces are clean. I'd personally grade it a 64 Red Brown, but I could also see someone calling it one higher. (was I close?)
May I ask if you agree with their assessment in this case? I have a tendency to grade conservatively at times on Red Brown copper coins.
Yeah I agree with the grade. As for the color designation, since it has about the widest parameters of all special designations, it's kind of hard to go wrong. For a cent to be Red Brown it only needs to have 5% of the coin be original red. But to be Red, it has to have 95% of the coin original red. Pretty hard to miss a 90% window.
That coin is 99+ uniform red with no flecks on the shoulder that I can detect. As to the strike, every whisker on his beard is full. Anything that contradicts these is my camera's fault. The reason I put it here is that it has been slabbed by PCI (gold label). They graded it 65 RED This coin has more shine, more uniform color, no more nicks, and no more spotting than any MS66 red I have by NGC or PCGS. I was trying to figure out what I was missing. Since PCI is noted for liberal grading, I was trying to make some sense of it. Without the spot, I would grade it at least 66. After looking at the pictures on Heritage, I still think it should be MS66 and I am positive it would be red. Some one mentioned proof. I looked at the pictures of proof coins also. This coin looks more like the proof coins on Heritage than the business strikes. I say this mostly because the lettering is finer on the proofs while it is heftier (for lack of a better word) on the business strikes. The lettering on this coin is identical to the pictures of the proofs on heritage. Having never seen a proof from tht era, how can I tell if it really is a proof?
I studied quite a few early lincolns on heritage today in this grade, and then in the 64 RB. This one is definitely much nicer than many of the 65 RB there were, and the coin definitely merits the grade given all it has going for it. I was surprised to see some coins that had incredible strikes carried a premium much smaller than I would have thought.
When I was talking about color, I wasn't talking about your coin but the one I posted a pic of. Yes, I would agree, your coin is Red. But a Proof it's not. For one thing, look at the surface of the fields. They have the orange peel effect which is attributed to a coin being struck with a worn die. Proofs don't have this. Another thing would be the legends. Look at LIBERTY in particular, see how the letters are somewhat indistinct on the inside corners and curves. Again this is indicative of being struck with a worn die. And as I have shown the coin is somewhat weakly struck as compared to a well struck example. But Proof coins are always struck at least twice, which results in very well struck coin and why Proofs have such sharp clear rims and well defined legends and devices. And since they only struck a little over 1000 Proofs in 1916, the dies would not be worn. Lastly, the 1916 Proof cents were struck with a matte finish, your coin does not have a matte finish. Now, I am not trying to denigrate your coin in any way. You asked a question relating to grade and I offered my opinion and the reasons for it. All I have to go on is the pic you provided, you however have the con in hand. So you may well be right that the coin grades higher than I think it does based on the pics. But I see nothing in the pics that indicates it should, of course that is merely my opinion.
Hey, I asked for the coin to be “denigrated”. I am far from an expert. I have taught myself most of what I know about grading. I can usually understand why this is 66 and that is 65 (on Lincolns anyway). My main point here was that usually when I get a PCI graded 65, I would count it as a 64 at best. I am trying to figure out why they “only” call this a 65. This coin is so uniform yellow on the observe (more apt than red in this case) that my first thought was that the coin had been recolored. However, the shine and cartwheels tell me that it cannot have been recolored. It is as shiny or shinier than any other wheat Lincoln I have. These two “eye appeal” factors are the biggest reason I grade it higher. They do not come across well in the picture. Yes, there is some minor “orange peal” – very minor. It is made more obvious by the coin’s shine. Maybe that is why it is “only” a 65. As to the lettering, the picture either shows what is not there or greatly exaggerates it – most particularly on the “LIBERTY”. My lettering looks more like ┌┐ in the cross section while yours looks more like ∩ although wider and higher than mine. Pardon mine attempt at letter “drawing”, but I hope you get the idea. To me, the lettering really does closely resemble the lettering on a 1916 PR-66 on Heritage. Maybe the best answer is that grading is an art and in art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder………..
I'm no expert either, just a guy who likes coins But to answer your question, I suspect PCI graded the coin as a 65 for the same reasons I graded it as a 64. In my opinion, they followed their normal grading practice.
I don't think I have ever seen a PCI coin that I agreed with the grade. Most are over graded but I have also seen them under graded . If you are going to try for a 66 at PCGS or NGC I would crack it out and send it. They probably would not cross or upgrade a PCI coin.
