Did a Smurf and a leprechaun have a fight to the death on that thing Bill? Very nice Is the slab scuffed up?
Huge strike. Hammered. This ain't a Business Strike. Not guessing at the grade until I know how much of the scratches are on the slab.
I think a fair amount of the scratches aren't on the slab and aren't pmd if that gives anyone a clue. And it is straight graded and superdave makes a very good point in his post and by the way how is there any question on the bands tho there's no need or point in the fb definition on this particular coin
Fun coin. Really nice to me. At first I thought PR-63. After reading the thread, I'll go with PR-64. Proofs like this are all about the hairlines. We can't be sure what is what from a single image. It looks like many of the lines are just part of the toning. Hope it got a 65. Pretty coin.
I have to recuse myself from grading because this got me interested in Merc Proofs and I ended up finding the coin online. They would make for an interesting short set, only issued for 7 years.
I may be asking a stupid question. And have never bought a slabbed proof. They don't give a numeric grade?
Yes, they do, using the full 70 point scale (Proofs escape into circulation sometimes, and can get circulated grades), but with the prefix PF (NGC) or PR (PCGS) instead of MS or AU, XF, etc, before the number. One usually needs to be pretty familiar with specific die markers to successfully attribute circulated Proofs because they normally resemble circulated Business Strikes once they wear enough.
