I'm still practicing my grading of Walkers, so I'd like your opinions on this 41-S. I beleive its a good MS coin. But Its really hard to tell sometimes. None of my Walkers seem to be well defined on the left hand. I don't know if its wear, or weak strike. The rest of the focal points, such as the skirt lines and feathers seem good. Let me know what you all think. Thanks.
In this case it is wear. I would grade the coin at XF40. One of the easy ways to distinguish wear from a weak strike is the color change. With a weak strike there is no color change, with wear there is.
I personally grade it AU, I'm normally not good at grading Walkers, but it looks like there is some wear on the eagles breast. But that's my opinion. Could be wrong. Phoenix
Sorry, guess I was typing when you posted GDJMSP. I would grade it anywhere from XF40-AU condition. Depends who is grading it. But normally, I don't grade Walkers well. It is probably more XF condition than AU condition because of the wear on the eagles breast though. Could be wrong. Hope I helped any. Phoenix
I don't know man. Pictures are confusing. Before I posted this thread I tried to figure out the grade by comparing it to pictures of slabbed MS-64 Walkers, of the same date and mint mark, on heritage and e-bay, and really couldn't tell the difference. As you zoom in on the coin the details tend to blur. Then again, even with the coin in hand, some details like the hand, the sandals, and the flag in the background look kinda worn... and maybe even cleaned as well...Grading is just still something I can't do I guess. I've been practicing alot, and seem to have made no progress. Oh well. Thats enough rambling for now. The game is about to start!
So, am I just an idiot, or are Walkers hard to grade? If you tell me I'm an idiot I won't be offended. I know what might help me; can someone post some pics of some truly UNC. Walkers?? Thanks.
Adam, I personally feel that walkers are hard to grade. They are one of the series that took me the longest to learn, and I still could use some tweaking. I personally feel your coin is in au condition, and perhaps whizzed if it looks MS. A lot of coin doctors are doing mechanical whizzing nowadays, which fools a lot of people, myself included before unfortunately : (
Adam - you are certainly not an idiot. Yes Walkers are hard to grade, especially the weakly struck issues like this one. And I know what you mean about the pics on Heritage looking similar to your coin, you're right they do in some ways. But there is one major difference. I have added some arrows to the pic of your coin, I used the reverse because that is where it is easiest to see. What I am trying to show you is the difference in color for adjacent areas. The higher points have a lighter grey color than the lower points which are darker grey. This indicates wear, not a weak strike. If it was due to a weak strike there would not be a difference in color. Hope that makes sense.
Adam: No, you are not an idiot, it just takes a lot of practice, practice. Kind of the way to get to Carnegie Hall. Look at a bunch of slabbed pieces, and not ones graded by Joe's Grading services. Use PCGS, NGC and ANACS plus ICG. They'll help you out, also, look at the coin from all directions, including at an angle.
Yes, GDJSMP, that does make sense. Thank you, and thanks to everyone else whos trying to help me out here. Still, I'd like to see someone post some good pictures of UNC walkers, so I know what a real MS walker is supposed to look like. I'm thinking about going to my coin dealers shop today to look at his slabbed Walkers.... But its 45 minutes away, and its snowing heavily, so I don't know...
I've been burned a couple of times too. Its amazing what some of these guys can do to the coins. Whats really unfortunate is the dealers who sell these whizzed coins at inflated prices.
GDJMSP, That was an excellent picture and a great explanation for differentiating a weak strike from wear!! I find Walkers very difficult to grade, as many AUs are whizzed to look unc, and many true UNCs are even hairlined. I was at an auction this past weekend with a good number of Walkers. However many were whizzed AU examples brings UNC money, and some of the UNCs had been hairlined to look PQ. Hang in there Adam. Just keep looking at as many examples as you can find and you will find yourself improving.
Adam - If you live close enough, there are some people in the St. Louis area that I could put you in contact with so that you could meet them in person at a coin show. I know they would be more than happy to show you the differences in person - that's really the best way to learn. There's only so much you can learn from looking at pics and it's dang hard to explain them at times. But if somebody shows you - you never forget it Anyway, lemme know - I know several folks in that area.
