Reverse die late stage, usually makes for some killer luster. Most of the marks are from the planchet IMO. I can't believe the O is full, this makes me think the AME area was clogged. This would definately be an NGC 67....I'm going to think about PCGS though.
I learn something with almost every one of these. Each one I miss, I tend to mull over until I'm truely satisfied. Before last week my grade on this coin would be quick and decisive. Most important thing learned last week? What I deem more important for grading is NOT what TPG's deem most important.
Each one you miss? What's that, like 1 in 10? lol FWIW, I think most people (a) overestimate the importance of hits and (b) underestimate the importance of luster when it comes to grading high mint state coins. Given that photos generally show hits much larger than they appear and show luster poorly only adds to the challenge. Also FWIW, I rarely blow up the photos or spend more than a second looking at the photo of reverse before settling on a grade. I grade the coins in about 5 seconds -- which is about the same amount of time as a professional grader, from what I've been told.
FWIW, he has missed 6 out of 44 (all by a single grade) and 2 of those get dropped. So, your 1 in 10 was pretty darn close.
Obverse could go 67 , but there's too much going on with the reverse , that and PCGS and I'm thinking 66 .
I am surprised no one picked 67 for this one. Without a loupe, it look nearly perfect. Those little ticky tacks just are not visible. All I can make out is the spot on the left wheat and above the ONE. Otherwise, great strike and fantastic luster. The only real flaw I can see are the left wheats. I do not know what happened to flatten them, but they sure are flat and it does not look like damage. I guess that kept it to a 66.
Another perfect round for Irish2Ice. rzage moving up and ddoomm1 rejoins the top ten. Columns are rank, name, average, and number of guesses. Irish2Ice 0.095 44 BadThad 0.333 47 Leadfoot 0.371 37 bahabully 0.375 34 rzage 0.395 40 ldhair 0.423 27 mark_h 0.435 48 jcakcoin 0.462 41 Shoewrecky 0.520 26 ddoomm1 0.550 42
