I recently sent in two coins to ANACS for encapsulation. In a very old thread of mine, I bought a nice uncirculated 1885 0 morgan for $40.00. That got an Ms62. The 1999 Wide AM I found got an AU58 BN. Disregarding the poor quality of the pics, this is the exact luster of the coin in hand. Could they have made a mistake by giving it the BN designation.
Apparently, any circulated Lincoln is not red to them, or, maybe more appropriately, cannot be guaranteed to stay other than brown once it has been handled/circulated.
If your pics are accurate, then that coin would not be Red in my opinion. Now if that confuses you, let me explain. This is only an assumption on my part, but I am assuming that you find it odd for that coin to get the Brown designation because of other coins you have seen with the Red designation. But if that assumption is correct, what are the dates of the coins you are comparing it to ? Think about that for a second. Then consider, that if the criteria for Red were strictly followed for all copper coins, even those 100 years old or more, then it is likely that you would never see any with the Red designation except for the newest coins. There is a very simple reason for that, copper is so reactive to toning that it is almost impossible for a copper coin to retain 96% of its original mint red color. But allowances are made and what the market accepts for mint red color on an older coin is not the same as what it accepts for mint red on a newer coin. And you also have to consider that there is a difference in original mint red color between the older coins of 95% copper alloy and the newer coins with a 100% copper plating. That said the criteria for a coin to the Red designation is 96% or more original mint red. RB is 5% - 95% and Brown is 0% - 4%. So at the best your coin could only achieve a RB designation. But in their opinion it does not meet that. Compare your coin to a new fresh Lincoln straight out of a roll and you'll see what I mean.
I completely understand now. I was just shocked when I thought that that cent could be brown when it was the total opposite of extremely brown cents, like wheats in most cases.
I think ANACS made a mistake. That coin is RB at worst and looks RD to me. Tell me, does ANACS even grade AU coins RB or RD? That could be what's going on here (i.e. AU grade = automatic BN).
These pics are my personal opinions on red, red brown and brown. Now compare the brown to the OP. Total opposites.
