In another thread, Lyds was telling me about weak strikes in the Kennedy series, particularly in the 70's. My question is: does PCGS grade on a curve when it comes to weak strikes? For instance... This is the photograde pic of the shield/eagle bust corresponding to MS65... And here is a pic of a 71d graded by PCGS at MS65... The latter coin doesn't display any of the detail an MS65 should have, by PCGS's own standards. They say an MS65 should exhibit an above-average strike. So are they grading on a curve? I notice this pattern a lot in the 70's: otherwise well-struck coins with very weak features on the shield/eagle head.
Key dates and cleaned early 19th century coins say hi! Its an open secret some coins get a little "pass" due to what they are, but I seriously doubt a 1970's kennedy half dollar would be one of them. I personally have never seen a reverse like your pic one except on proofs on a 70's issue. Others are more knowledgable than me, but did they change the design after the 70's, or were the dies overly worn in that period?
Grading on a curve? Only happens in high school........ Lackluster teachers, who fail to convey, will always 'grade' on a curve........
What you are talking about John is that coins of a given date & mint that are known for being weakly struck are not graded to the same standard as other coins. Allowances are made for these specific coins where the entire mintage of that specific date/mint is known to have been weakly struck. It also works in reverse, there are specific date/mint combinations where the entire mintage is known to have been very well struck. And those coins are held to a higher standard than other coins of the same series. Now if you want to call that grading on a curve, then yes it is done. And this is nothing new, it has always been done for as long as we have had grading.
It's been explained to me that business strikes in the 70's (and somewhat in the 80's) exhibit weak strikes, particularly the coins minted in Philadelphia, and I've noticed this to be true, having examined a number of mint sets. The Denver issues are better, but still weak compared to the 90's. The 71p is notoriously weak, and high-grade examples with full eagle features trade for a bundle, probably to registry collectors. They're out of my range at any rate.
