Your thoughts versus PCGS on this 73-D? Pics are the same coin with slightly different exposures. No scratches on the holder. Good luck!
I'm thinking 64 as well at the very high 63 spectrum. The coin presents well, compared to the 1978 posted earlier, in that the strike looks crisp. Not full mind you, but crisp. The photographs really show off the weakness of strike in that the annealing chatter through the date and One Dollar on the reverse show up quite well. Thats not a very pretty shaving mark on his chin either but the coinn "looks" like it had good strong luster and PCGS does reward strong luster. Thats my guess and I'm sticking to it!
I think the face is too scratched to support a gem grade. I would say 63-64 tops. Nice coin, but lots of marks on the face.
Know what that coin is? It is a attractive, mid level MS, that has considerable luster, eye appeal, and nice color and strike. The reverse is beautiful, and the obverse has some marks--so what? Sometimes we lose sight that some of the nicest coins are MS 63-64, and not everybody needs to own the MS 67 ultra expensive gems to be happy. If it were mine, I'd be very satisfied owning it, whatever the grade, as it looks kindly upon the eye.
Survey says PCGS MS66. I don't use a flash in my pics, but my camera consistantly highlights planchet flaws. To the naked eye it looks much better. Thanks to all for playing!
See, not only is it an exceptionally attractive coin, it is also high grade--also a good lesson on using photos to grade, as reflections and poor images frequently make a coin look worse that it is--I was wrong on grade, but not on attractiveness.
Ah fudge, I missed this poll. I need to find a way to make sure I don't miss your Ike polls! Very nice coin btw. Great strike, nice luster. No problem showing the planchet flaws, that part of Ike grading. But FWIW I would have missed it with a high end of 65.
This series is very difficult to grade in high mint state grades. IMO, it is LUSTER that makes or breaks a coin in this grade, and you can generally ignore the planchet marks.