I would eyeball it at MS61. My thinking/ramblings: On the obverse, the E in liberty seems to have taken a little damage as well as the general contact/bag marks on Franklin's cheek, above his ear, and on his shoulder. Hair detail - I think - is consistent with MS61. Might be two nicks at 3 o'clock, half way between Franklin's mouth and coin's rim. On the reverse, the inscription on the Liberty Bell is a bit worn. The eagle also appears bit smoother than on high grade MS examples. However, both of these could be result of weaker strike. Lastly, there are a few milk spots below the bell. This is fairly common on Franklin halves due to not properly cleaning planchets prior to striking. Not sure how much milk spots factor into the grade to be honest.
Seems the majority of folks think this coin is graded much higher than I'd guessed. I'd love to hear some reasoning behind this?
Dima, I agree with you. I'll admit, my knowledge of grading is limited and reading as much as I can to learn. However, I have coins that I think look much better than this one, but graded worse. So, I'm sure it is related to some technicalities that I don't understand. So I also would appreciate details as to why people think it should be graded as high.
