Must See - What is the Grade

This is my Wife's coin and it is without a doubt the best coin we have. We have never had it graded and she has had it for many-many years. I have not been able to take a picture that captures how nice this coin is.

What do you think the grade is? If/when we get it graded I will let the group know how it did.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Best Regards,

Darryl

 

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Maybe an ms 62 i noticed on the reverse around the word UNITED there may be a deep scratch. - maby not it could be a photo problem. If it is it may be bagged and not slabbed by ngc, ANACS would slab it and state the defect. Also on the fields on the reverse i see some small scratches like whizzing maybe not sure. Does it have a good cartwheel ?

 

I think it is the photo - I don't think .?. there is a scratch on this coin unless you were looking at it under more than 10x mag.

I've add some close ups of that area.

 

zapdbf, not sure what you mean by wizzing or cartwheel. Sorry, if someone can explain I will try to detail the areas to show better.

Thanks

 

We would need clearer photos to tell for sure but I'm pretty sure that I see wear so it couldn't grade over AU.

Speedy

 

Cartwheel is easier seen than explained. take a shiny brand new penny out of your pocket and move it back and forth under a light, you will see the light "cartwheel" around the coin. This is due to the tiny flow lines in the surface. these flow lines are easily removed by cleaning. A harshly cleaned coin can have more of a reflecting mirror look.

Whizzing
is a process to attempt to give it a proof like or mint state look, the fields can have short shallow scratches that kina curve due to brushing with a wire brush or dremmel. That is what the lines on the reverse look like to me.

 

i did not look close enough, i do see some wear around the stars behind her hair. Sorry about that. i would have to agree with them. I got caught up on the reverse.

 

AU cleaned

 

Thanks Speedy and GDJMSP,

You both may be right on the AU? What do I know (little to nothing!) - still very pretty though for a 105 year old coin... The pictures do not do it justice. For those of you have that have the privilege of seeing really nice coins on a regular basis - I am envious and please enjoy them a little for me...

Erin has had the coin for approx. 23 years and she has always taken care of it and never-ever cleaned it. Her aunt had it before Erin and passed it down. It is unlikely that she would have done anything to it and probably bought it long before I was born (mid 60's). The hair above Liberty does look a little worn. Who ONLY knows what happened to it prior to her Aunt getting it. I will spend some time looking for some examples that are graded to compare to this coin.

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

zapdbf - Thank you for explaining cartwheel and whishing.

Best Regards

Darryl

 

"Can someone/anyone please explain what was meant by cartwheel and wizzing."

I did look up higher in the postings.

 

Thanks again zapdbf, My last post was being written when you responded. You were so quick to reply I didn't have time to edit out the response.

Talked more with my wife and she stated that she believes the coin has been in the family since it was minted. Her Great Aunt was given two of them when she was young and had them her whole life.

Now the really sad part - When she passed, the better of the two $5 gold coins in the estate was pick by another relative and turned into a necklace. At that point god only knows what/how the coins were treated to determine which was in better shape to create this piece of jewelry. :desk: :headbang: :rolling:

During Erin's lifetime she believes her great aunt had kept them wrapped and stored in a soft cloth. When her aunt was younger she must have handled them some to have had any signs of ware.

I guess they are more sentimental than anything. One thing for sure, Erin's is in better shape now that the other coin. She will continue to treat it with tender loving care until it passes to our daughter.

Darryl

 

Every coin I see I enjoy looking at----and thanks for posting photos because I don't care if the coin is worth $0.01 or $$$ and it doesn't have to grade high to anything because each coin you look at can help you learn more and more about cleaning, grading, etc....that is why I suggeset people go to any show they can...or just take time and look around Ebay or Heritage---it is always going to help!

Speedy

 

Thanks Speedy - makes me feel a little better about showing a coin that may have been mishandled in the past. We will still enjoy the coin and the value is as much in the connected history.

And I agree, I love looking at any coin that I get or that someone might post/share with the group.

Darryl

 

Well Put .... I couldn’t agree more.

 

Coins that are mishandled always have alittle bit of history---don't ever worrry about showing photos of a coin---why this coin is more than likely worth more than most of my coins

Speedy

 

It is my opinion that the coin is AU 50-55 with cleaning more than once!
To bad it is a good date to collect 1902 S .
Based on the photographs....
If submitted it would come back as cleaned.....

RickieB