When examining Frankies, let the 1st thing that hits you be eye appeal. Does the coin look mint fresh? Is the Luster strong? Booming? Weak? Then I would look at the fields for dings, chatter, bag marks. I would then focus on the high points of the coin, on the obverse look at Franklins cheek area. Also his shoulder area, look for signs of rub which may indicate a circulated coin. Also to the right of his ear look for three wisps of hair, this detail shows up on sharply struck coins as well as nice lines in Frankies hair as found in the 48 and 49 Frankies. Some years do not have these details due to weak strike and this is usually not held against them when grading. In general, as the series continued the master die got poorer and poorer, so as you progress through the 50s you'll notice the strike characteristics detoriating. Compare a 48 to a 59 and you'll see the detail that has been lost. In 60 the Master die was re-worked and alot of this detail was brought back, however they didn't due such a good job on the reverse concerning the bell lines. Any 60's Frankie p or d mint with Full Bell Lines is a nice find, and a fantastic find in a 5 as these coins suffered from bag marks galore and most will be ms64's. The San Franciso mints also had obverse die striking quality issues with the 53 being the worse. A 53s in FBL is the holy grail to Franklin collectors. This to me is the key date, also the 49s and 49d are considered keys. The 51s and 52s and 54s are very tough in ms65 FBL. These would be a nice find that will command a strong premium. Here is a 48d that I bought raw that made FBL at PCGs: PCGs focus's on the lower bell lines. Notice they are full and non interupted with the exception of the crack in the bell. The 53s and most San Francisco Frankies for that matter have a terrible weakness to the left of the crack which cause them not to get this designation. Though some tiny bagmarks can be present and not hurt the designation. NCG requires all 7 Bell lines to be full, the above picture probably would not qualify. In general a ms64 has bag marks in the obverse and reverse, some hits on Frankies head and the bell, in a 5 very few are found. Some of my 5's should be 6's. In a 6, maybe one or two hits on the entire coin are found with absolutely no rub what-so-ever on Frankies high points. the few 7's I have seen and owned were flawless to my eyes. Most ms66's come from original mint sets and are toned anywhere from very attractive to black road tar ugly! This is due to the sulfur in the cardboard reacting with the coins surface and growing a protective oxide layer we commonly call toning... Hope this helps...
