OK, boys and girls, here's another large cent to hone your grading on. I picked up this large cent today at FUN from an EAC dealer. In case you don't know EAC, or Early American Coppers, they are a group of large cent collectors and dealers that uphold Sheldon's original grading when they assign a grade to a large cent. It just so happens that this coin was cracked out and raw, as is typical of EAC-offered large cents, but it also included the old NGC grade. So this time I'll throw you all a bit of a curveball in the form of a three part question: #1 -- What did EAC grade the coin? #2 -- What did NGC grade the coin? #3 -- What do you grade the coin? Enjoy...Mike
MS-65BN for EAC MS-64BN for NGC MS-64BN for my grade Nice coin. Hope I'm close. Looks like a weak strike with clean surfaces for the most part. Still hard to tell from pics.
I'll take two. :smile: EAC-MS65BN NGC-MS63BN I would say MS-61BN. Edit:Oops, forget the other grades.
I haven't read up on the EAC grading....but have heard that they grade high... NGC Grade MS63B MY Grade MS62B--the nick on the nose Speedy
Hey GDJMSP--can you point me to the wear on the coin???...the only place I thought might be wear is on the stars....and I counted that as a week strike. Speedy
To my eyes there appears to be minor wear on the high points of both obverse & reverse. And the hits on the coin do not appear, at least to me, to be consistent with those occuring during the minting process but rather with those which occur during circulation.
Speedy, GDJMSP, IMHO, is correct. There is the slightest bit of wear on the high points. The spots to look for are the top edge of Liberty's crown, the hair on her forehead and temple, and the hair curl that rests on her shoulder on the obverse, and on the top of each of the leaves and the bow at the bottom of the wreath on the reverse. The stars on this issue are not struck in high enough relief to show wear in an AU coin. The very tip top of the crown also doesn't alway strike up completely and can be easily confused for wear. You did correctly identify the stars as weakly struck, but that is very typical of this series, and this example's stars are actually very well struck if judged against other examples of this date. Here are the answers: #1 -- EAC graded the coin AU 58. #2 -- NGC graded the coin MS 62 BN. #3 -- FWIW, I happen to agree with EAC's grade. It has all the typical AU 58 features -- just a tough of wear but still lots of luster and sparkle. I showed the coin to a highly respeted dealer and former grader for NGC, and he commented the color of the coin made him suspicious that the coin had been lightly cleaned. A second specialist made a similar comment, but added that it is certainly market acceptable and a very attractive coin and wouldn't be surprised if NGC or ANACS slabbed the coin MS 63. FWIW, I paid strong MS 62 money for the coin, and I am happy to have it. It will look nicely in my Dansco large cent collection. Take care...Mike
Mike and GDJMSP.... Ok....taking your points and looking at the photo again I'm starting to see what I missed... :O I guess NGC must have missed the same thing as my guess was the same as theirs....MS62B.... The more I see of LG Cents the harder I think they are to grade.... Speedy
Don't be too hard on yourself. You have a good eye for coisn... This coin is a very tough one. It is a classic AU/MS slider and one that's tough to catch in just about all coin series unless you know exactly where to look. Just like anything else, it just take time and experience to get the eye for it. My experience with large cents is that they will get a bump up to 62 or 63 even if they show AU wear on the high points if they have eye appeal -- market grading at its finest. This could also explain why the NGC 55s that I have are not 50's or 45's -- they have smooth surfaces, good luster, and eye appeal, but technically (wear wise) they have more wear for the grade that you would expect. Take for example this coin below. It is graded MS 62 BN by ANACS, and they, if anything, have been too tough on this coin, IMHO. It's only faults being impared luster because of handling in 1856, the hit on the nose, and the touch of a weak strike on the reverse. Take notice how there is no wear on the highpoints of the design mentioned earlier: Take care....Mike
