Beautiful.... 64+1 ? I didn't know you played outside coppers.... Putting together a set of CC's is on my do list too...
I lean towards 65, but the tick marks on the face say 64 to me. But going to go with 65 since the pictures always seem to make them look worse. Beauty of a coin.
I guess that is all the comments I am going to get. I do not see the wear in hand either, but I doubt it will go as high as the guesses. I would guess 62/63. There are just too many little tick on it. This is the prize from http://www.cointalk.com/t133679/. That is one h e double hockey sticks of a prize. To Strikeluster, MANY, MANY thanks.
Maybe it is the slight discoloration or maybe luster breaks across the cheek. I do not see any wear either in the pictures. Still a nice looking coin.
The obverse points are what influenced that grade. However, I still think you got short changed there. MS62 is more like it. Regrade?
No question, this is regrade material... and to PCGS or NGC. If it looks the same in hand as it does in the pictures, then this is by far one of the worst mis-grades I've seen. If you do send it in to another service, then crack it out first. Also, I'm interested to just buy it from you if you want to make a deal
The only place on the coin where I see the slightest amount of "wear" is the cotton bols. But the hair above the ear, the area above the eye (brow), the hair above the date, and the hair below LIBERTY all show no signs of wear in the picture. I have seen many MS coins with weak cotton bols. The hairlines do not necessarily make this an AU coin, as some are acceptable. Either the picture doesn't show it, or the grader saw more to this coin than there really is.
Yeah,,, all of those are the reasons I went so high.... 1 - RLM's' close up pictures tend to show more nick's and less luster than the coin presents when pictured at a bit more of a distance.... So the obverse nicks didn't bother too much,, plus I have plenty of MS63's that appear to have the same volume of obv nicks.... 2 - no wear above the ear that I can see,,,, that's one of the first places I look at a morg (unsure if this is a good focal spot for judging morg grades or not,,, but it's what I use). 3 - no wear on eagles breast on reverse,,, as the area above ear on the obv,, that's my focal spot on the reverse... 4 - clean fields on reverse,,, almost void of nic's that I can see.... 5 - rims on both sides look good... So the only thing I could see was a few nics on the obv cheek and face, which I assumed were amplified...... I'd give AU money for it in a second...... one reason I like AU coins so much is exactly this type of coin sleeping in there....
In hand, the only spot I think might have some wear is the cap tassel. Once in a while, I can get the right angle to see a break there, but I suspect it is a weak strike rather than wear. I can tell it has been dipped, but it still has some luster.
I had hearcd that ANACS was a tougher grading company than PCGS or NGC and read that many resubmissions did get higher grades. Is that why PCGS is so popular ?
ANACS has lost many of their long time expert graders to other companies. To give this grade some new light, here is a picture of a PCGS MS62 1878-CC that I purchased last week from eBay: and if that didn't upload well, then this link might be better: http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/3917/1878cc.jpg
Years ago that was true, but even then only with some coins. Today, I would never agree with that comment. But each TPG is always tougher with some series than the other TPGs are. It's always been that way. But no TPG is tougher with everything, and never has been.
You should be aware that if you decide to crack it out and submit it to NGC or PCGS, you probably won't get the VAM designation. You may not even get it as a crossover. I know for sure it isn't on NGC's list, and it may not be on PCGS' list either. Chris
Looks like a solid 63 to me. I guess it could be a super slider, and sure looks better than any 62 i have. Nice coin and nice prize!
It's not uncommon for an AU Morgan to appear in pics like an MS coin. Look at the luster, it falls short and you can really tell against the MS62 someone else posted.