A few months ago, I posted a picture of my 1943-D wheatie, which is in fantastic condition. The fields are spotless but for a single (what I think is a) lamination flaw, on the reverse below the right wheat stalk. This coin's a big-time gem without that flaw. My question is, how are such production flaws viewed when grades are established? Here's better pictures (thanks to the camera thread for the enlightening me on the macro feature!) I was still fiddling with lighting and such when I took the pictures, so the color will appear different on each side; in reality the color is identical on each side.
Hi davada, This 1943 D looks wonderful. You made mention of the Color being different so what color is it (Steel or Cooper) .... And I noticed some cuts on the letters on the Reverse.
When grading, the quality of the planchet is supposed to be one of the criteria. But most grading books don't really discuss it much - they just leave it at that. But it has always been my opinion that lamination flaws in the planchet detract from the eye appeal of the coin greatly and therefore they detract from the grade. Depending on the severity of the flaw, I deduct 2 to 3 points with MS coins.
Heh, I wish it was copper It's a standard steel cent. It's not blast white; that is, there's some light gray toning on the devices that doesn't show up well under lighting like this. Yes, you're right, looks like there's a couple of hits on the reverse lettering. I even tried looking directly for them after I looked closely at the photos -- they're invisible to the naked eye. Only under high magnification and with harsh across-the-face lighting can those marks be seen. This is easily my favorite coin in my collection (one of the cheapest too!) I've had it since I was a kid, and it's got great character. I still can't get over how clean the fields are (minus the lamination, of course). I just bought a 1943-S cent which is a drop-dead gem, and it's not as clean as this.
