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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ToughCOINS, post: 3559194, member: 20480&quot;]My opinion . . . </p><p><br /></p><p>Full Steps are full steps, whether mint state or not.&nbsp; Much the same as FBL on Franklins, FH on SLQ and FB on Mercs.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s not common to see circulated coins receive such full strike designations, but it does happen.&nbsp; The full strike designation is intended to identify the amount of detail originally imparted upon the coin (when evident), and not how much it has been worn. Therefore, I&#039;d ignore the &quot;requirement&quot; that a coin be mint state in order to qualify for a full strike designation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Regarding marks on the steps, I&#039;ll read between the lines (pun intended) and speculate that the reason they generally preclude the FS designation, and I stress &quot;generally&quot;, is because when very minor bridging of steps is all that would remove a coin from consideration, an unscrupulous dealer / collector / investor could purposefully impart one or more marks at the bridge to obscure it and make the coin look like it was fully struck.&nbsp; This same principle is applied in designating Mercury dimes and Franklin halves as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can envision graders eyeballing the strength of separation of the steps immediately to either side of a mark, and deciding that a bridge would not have existed before the coin was marked.&nbsp; This would be a judgment call, based on the grader&#039;s familiarity with the series, the depth of strike either side of the interruption, and on the location, size, orientation and apparent cause of the mark(s).&nbsp; Naturally, in such cases, the mark could not be wide, or nearly horizontal - I would never consider FS designating a coin having a 2mm long mark, parallel with the steps, but I&#039;d think about it if the mark was 0.5mm wide and perpendicular with the steps if the steps were bold right up to the mark.</p><p><br /></p><p>Like I said . . . this is just my opinion.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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