Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Lehigh96, post: 4769946, member: 15309&quot;]PCGS only requires that the bottom set of lines be full for the designation.&nbsp; The reason for this is that the weakness that plagues the series starts to the left of the crack on the bottom set of lines.&nbsp; Of course there are severe cases where the strike weakness extends into the top set of lines, but the methodology is that if the bottom set of lines are full then the top set must be full as well.&nbsp; Remember, PCGS allows marks across the lines as long as they don&#039;t disturb the continuity of the lines.</p><p><br /></p><p>You ask if &quot;true FBL&quot; exist?&nbsp; Of course they do, I have shown some examples below where both sets of lines are completely full.&nbsp; These coins are graded by PCGS but would easily crossover to NGC.</p><p><br /></p><p>1950 FHD PCGS MS66+ FBL</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/t4XF2ec.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>1954-D FHD PCGS MS66 FBL</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/yYSR95H.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The reason why people don&#039;t understand the application of the FBL designation is because they spend too much time looking at FBL coins and wondering how and why the coin got FBL and not enough time comparing those FBL coins to Non FBL coins.&nbsp; As I stated earlier, the strike weakness starts to the left of the crack on the bottom set of lines and gets progressively worse on many &quot;S&quot; mint coins where that weakness extends into the top set of lines.&nbsp; It is helpful to categorize these levels of weakness:&nbsp; Just Miss Strike Weakness, Typical Strike Weakness, Severe Strike Weakness.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just Miss Strike Weakness:&nbsp; 1951-S FHD PCGS MS66+</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/SU0w1OO.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The lines to the right of the crack are still full.&nbsp; If you look directly to the left of the crack, you can see the bell lines and then a little further to the left there is a patch where the continuity of the lines are broken by strike weakness which disqualifies this coin from the FBL designation.&nbsp; Notice that the top set of lines, though faint, are basically full on this coin.&nbsp; This coin perfectly shows why PCGS only considers the bottom set of lines when applying the designation.&nbsp; In addition, this coin is very well struck for the date/mm.&nbsp; The &quot;S&quot; mint coins from the fifties are the ones that are plagued by strike weakness.&nbsp; This is about as good as you can get for the date/mm.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Typical Strike Weakness:&nbsp; 1951-S FHD PCGS MS66+</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/7AIe4fN.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here we can see that the lines to the right of the crack are no longer full.&nbsp; The weakness extends from the right of the crack all the way over to above the F in HALF DOLLAR.&nbsp; Notice again that the top set of lines are still full.&nbsp; This is the stage where everyone can look at the coin and see without argument that the lines are not full.&nbsp; When comparing a FBL coin like the one you posted to this coin, the difference is plainly evident.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Severe Strike Weakness:&nbsp; 1952-S FHD PCGS MS67</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/mjUgxEh.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>This coin shows strike weakness that starts to the right of the crack, extends to the F, and has a vertical aspect that reaches into the upper set of lines.&nbsp; In addition, the area has a level of flatness that absent in the previous examples.&nbsp; The inclusion of this coin in the discussion is not to show that it isn&#039;t FBL, anyone could see that, rather, I would like you to look at the top set of lines.&nbsp; This coin has severe strike weakness yet the top set of lines are 90% full, which illustrates further why PCGS only considers the bottom set of lines in the application of the designation.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>To the readers of this thread, the person I am responding to has me blocked and will not see this post.&nbsp; I would appreciate it if someone would be nice enough to quote this post so that he can see it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in