hone your grading skills -- flying eagle cent

Here's a fairly easy one, IMO.

Please guess the grade that PCGS assigned to this coin:






To make it a bit harder, and if you so choose, put yourself in my shoes and figure out how much you would pay for such a coin.

Have fun...Mike

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I will guess MS67. Great coin by the way :thumb:

 

I can easily see this one pulling down an MS65 from PCGS. I have seen lesser coins in PCGS MS65 plastic. That's a really remarkable strike on the eagle's breast feathers - I mean, really crisp. There's a little softness on the reverse veggies, but I've seen worse on 65s.

I wouldn't be surprised if it went higher than 5. The photography is 70 !

This is a scary coin ya got this time, Mike. I can't wait to see what it did.

 

Here's a 66...

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=1124&Lot_No=2049

Note the leaves in the upper right part of the leaves. See the veins ? No ?

That's 'cuz there aren't any. Didn't strike up, even though it's a $15,000 coin.

 

Well, I guess I'm Mr. Scrooge - I'll guess MS64 and $1375.

 

MS65, and great strike, and hubba bubba...
That should about cover it.

 

I'd grade it MS-64, I bet PCGS gave it a '65.

 

I'm going with MS64. TPGs can be really stingy on the Flying Eagles. Lovely coin though no doubt.

 

I agree with Mark MS64. The one thing I noticed right off was what looks like a hit between wing and shoulder abrove breast. Then the strike is not as strong as I have seen on some other flying eagles - plus some small hits on the reverse one cent. To me these things added up to 64 - right or wrong. Of course with the coin in hand I might change my mind. I also have not looked at many of these in this grade.

 

I'll guess 65 RD, although if the color of those pictures is anything true to how it looks in hand, I don't like it at all.

 

Flying Eagle (and Copper Nickel) cents are not given BN, RB or RD color designations.

The strike is actually pretty darned good for a Flying Eagle Cent. I have seen a good number of MS65's with noticeably weaker strikes.

 

Good eye! The color in the photo is a bit more copper than the coin is in hand. Said a bit differently, the color of the coin in hand is more brass than the copper color in the photo. I don't think you'd have a problem with the color in-hand (unless your concern wasn't one of hue).

As an aside, the reason for the color cast is that I forgot to remove a cardboard box next to the coin, which is throwing off the white balance set at an earlier time.

 

Almost flawless - a few minute hits here and there probably took it down 1 point so MS65 or 66.

A beautiful coin by the way, and one i would take in a flash into my collection.

 

My first thought was MS-63 but 64 is probably right.
Beautiful coin.

 

MS64

B-U-T-full!

Speedy

 

Why not? These aren't my area of expertise (I don't do copper!) Perhaps this is why I thought the color looked off.

 

My guess is because the copper nickel (as opposed to the bronze) coinage doesn't typically mellow or display the color variances to anywhere near the same extent.

 

Which would explain why the flying eagle here is still a bright pinkish color. On a Lincoln or regular copper, this is a color to strongly avoid. Is this a normal color for flying eagles? I guess this is because of the different composition. But don't Indian heads mellow to that nice coppery orange?

 

Remember, the owner of the coin said

Indian cents mellow to all sorts of different color combinations, and some years/dates exhibit different original color than others.

 

Thanks Mark, helpful as always.

After a little schooling on these Flying Eagles, I'm going to change my opinion to - I like it!