A detecting colleague recently found this lovely looking Mary groat and he would like to know whether it would grade as very fine or even better. It has a small amount of edge damage.
For many GB collectors of hammered coins the formal Grade is irrelevant. Much more important is the overall eye-appeal. That coin has it! With the later hammered coins, the most important aspect is the quality of the portrait, and that is a beautiful image of Mary. I hope your friend was not responsible for the scratches on the obverse with over zealous cleaning.
What an amazing find! I would say it would go VF details by American standards. Perhaps more of a Good Fine (gF) by British standards.
I was intrigued by the reverse inscription. "VERITAS TEMPORIS FILIA" - "Truth is the daughter of time". Or something like that. The crossbars on those A's are really something! Like a bone stuck through.
I believe that the condition is as found and follows a quick rinse under the tap. I'm amazed that it survived in this condition for hundreds of years with farm machinery going over and knocking it about in the soil on a regular basis. I will pass on your kind comments to him and I'm sure he will be delighted.
