This is one of my latest acquisitions. Man i hate it when gold goes through the roof and everyone starts acting like loons. it makes buying gold coins harder. sigh. Had to get this one, as it "spoke" to me (if you know what i mean) Guess the grade, win my admiration
Assuming most of the "nasty" marks I'm seeing are on the slab and not the coin, I'd go with something like AU-55. I'm basing that on what appears to be wear on the curl above the indian's eye, and the "shoulder" of the left wing. Of course that could be the strike.
very close... AU-58 Paid close melt value for it as well I will always take an AU-58 over a low MS coin. Most of the marks are on the holder, its a nice coin. common date, but eh... its gold
You betcha. Gotta love this design. "Common date" sort of. Could be worse; I think of these as "2nd tier" common date... i.e. slightly better date. The ultimate common dates are '32 and '26 (in that order). If we use NGC census as an indicator, we find that NGC has slabbed more than 58,000 of those two dates - more than all other $10 Indians combined. The '10-D is the third most common, with ~7,800 in NGC slabs... compared to more than 34,000 1932s - more than 4 times as many as your '10-D !
Not to be abrupt but... who graded it AU-58? You never said whether or not this coin is slabbed. I have to say that I would disagree, but I'd like to know with whom I am disagreeing first.
I would say AU-53. I don't think that the coin is very sharply struck. The central devices show a slight bit of rub, the hair on the obverse under Liberty is weakly struck and the feathers at 3:30 - 4:00 are also weakly struck. IMHO, sharpness of strike is what seperates a 58 from a 53. While we agree that the coin is indeed AU, I think we disagree on how well the coin exhibits strike characteristics. Gold being a relatively soft metal, I expect better than average strike on gold coins.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'd bet you don't look at many Indian Eagles. Despite the soft metal, these coins are notorious for weak strikes in the areas you mention, and this is even more true for the Denver minted coins in my experience. To be honest, this coin looks pretty well struck compared to the other 10-d's, despite its obvious strike shortcomings. I would also disagree with your overall assessment of how strike would be factored into grade at the AU level, but I also recognize your right to grade coins however you see fit. Respectfully...Mike
I'm going to say AU-55. I'm not that knowledgeable about these...but it looks like it has a touch of wear to me.
I agree they adjusted the pressure depending on the metal being struck , if they used the same pressure for all metals , gold would be the best struck , with steel cents the worst , I think they were more cocerned with the dies lasting . IMO rzage
mike, we are all entitled to our opinons, whether they be right or wrong. I merely asked who graded this coin as AU-58, and I still don't know who
BTW, Mike... just to let you know that I am not offended at all by this discussion, I am rather enjoying it. I am curious, however to exactly what in your opinion seperates a 53 from a 58. If not the depth and quality of strike, then what?