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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Lehigh96, post: 4923475, member: 15309&quot;]There is a lot to unpack in this reveal, but lets start with the grade.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Uy7IsNF.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>This is the most lustrous 1954-S Jefferson Nickel that I have ever seen, including my registry coin. In addition, the strike, while not complete, is about as good as they come for this date/mm.&nbsp; PCGS graded this coin MS66, but that is because they really don&#039;t grade this date/mm MS67.&nbsp; I plan to crack this coin and submit it to NGC and fully expect an MS67 grade.</p><p><br /></p><p>The remnant planchet flaw issue is one that we have discussed many times, but the fact is that both NGC and PCGS don&#039;t punish the grade for planchet roughness.&nbsp; Whether they should or not is a different argument, but if you go through my entire registry set, you will see that virtually every single coin, including the MS67s, all have some level of remnant planchet roughness on the jaw, cheek, or both.&nbsp; It is very much like the argument about the rub on the breast and knee of Saint Gauden&#039;s double eagles; every coin has some measure of rub caused by roll friction so those people in the &quot;wear is wear&quot; camp would have every single Saint graded AU despite the vast difference in overall quality.&nbsp; On Jefferson Nickels, if you refused to grade a coin MS67 because of the presence of remnant planchet roughness, you wouldn&#039;t have MS67s for the majority of the date/mms.</p><p><br /></p><p>That brings us to the evaluation of the 1954-S date/mm.&nbsp; This coin is graded differently than many of the other dates because it is by far the worst struck date/mm of the entire series.&nbsp; It just doesn&#039;t come full struck.&nbsp; PCGS has only graded 7 coins at the MS67 level and that includes my registry coin which I successfully crossed from NGC to PCGS this summer (shown below).</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/yPWOvQm.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>So if the coin above represents the pinnacle for the date/mm, where does the current coin rank?&nbsp; The problem is that most people have only seen MS65 or better 1954-S nickels because they are the only ones that get graded.&nbsp; They have no idea how bad the strikes actually were for this date/mm.&nbsp; I have created a little grading scale that should show the difference in strike for the 54-S.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Xt8gLbL.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The first two coins are MS62-63, the second two coins are MS64-65, and the last set is MS66-67.&nbsp; The MS64 coin has a premium gem strike but the grade is held back by the surface marks.&nbsp; The coin of this thread is the MS66 coin, but I submit that there is very little difference between it and the MS67 coin which is graded by NGC.&nbsp; The NGC MS67 has a marginally better strike but significantly worse luster, though admitedly, my photos don&#039;t really show the difference.&nbsp; Anyway, with respect to the worst struck date/mm of the series, this coin is a monster, with a way above average strike and virtually unimprovable luster.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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