I agree with your price guide analysis and that it might grade MS66 5FS, but as a collector who has own dozens of coins from this date/mm, I will say it has a great shot at MS66+ 5FS and legitimate shot at MS67 5FS. The question then becomes, will I be satisfied with a low end MS67 5FS example as my registry coin or will it suffer the same fate as my last low end MS67 5FS example? The luster and eye appeal are much better on this coin and the final price tag would be a mere $60 as opposed to the $1K that I paid for the last one and took a huge loss at sale time.
Yeah, the only way I lose is if the coin grades MS65 or doesn’t get the 5FS designation. If it grades MS66 5FS, I break even. If it grades MS67 5FS, it’s a huge windfall, enough to make me whole after the last coin.
Yikes! I completely forgot to weigh in on this thread. It's good to see a progress update since you discussed your 1950-D quest last year in another thread (post #137). I hope you get that whale - but maybe it's more entertaining to watch the quest! (I too, paid a premium for a toned example and it is far and away more expensive than any of the rest in my set. It's an PCGS MS66+ for comparison purposes.)