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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 89332, member: 112&quot;]It&#039;s not a question of wear in this case, it&#039;s a question of strike. The &#039;21 Peace dollar was a high relief coin, much higher in fact than even other coins of the era. And the high point of the obverse is the hair around the ear. And the high point is the last area to which metal will flow when the coin is struck. Thus this area often exhibits flatness which those who are unfamiliar with grading the coin often mistake as wear. </p><p><br /></p><p>When the mint started striking these coins, they found that they had to use a higher striking pressure in order for the coins to strike up fully. But by doing so the mint found that the dies could not stand the pressure - they would literally break after striking only a few coins. So the mint reduced the striking pressure, and thus the majority of the &#039;21 Peace dollars, even high grade examples, exhibit flatness in the hair around the ear.</p><p><br /></p><p>In order to illustrate what I am saying I went searching for pics of this coin that I feel were correctly graded. I &quot;borrowed&quot; these pictures for purposes of illustration.</p><p><br /></p><p>This first one was graded by NGC as MS64 - notice the flatness in the hair.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.gdjmsp.cointalk.org/other_pics/21%20peace%2064%20A.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here is another example, also graded as MS64 by NGC - </p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.gdjmsp.cointalk.org/other_pics/21%20peace%2064.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>Notice that not only is the hair flat, there is also a lack of luster. This is because the metal never flowed into the deepest recesses of the die due to insufficient pressure. It is the flow of metal which produces the luster.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now this next coin is graded as MS65, notice that there is a bit more detail to the hair. Not much maybe, but enough that it justifies the coin receiving the higher grade.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.gdjmsp.cointalk.org/other_pics/21%20peace%2065%202.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here is another, also graded MS65. This coin exhibits even more detail in the hair. It also lacks that little bit of extra eye appeal or it would have been pushed on into the 66 range. This much hair detail is hard to find in the &#039;21 Peace.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.gdjmsp.cointalk.org/other_pics/21%20peace%2065.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Now this last coin has similar detail in the hair to the previous coin, but the lack of marks, full luster and superior eye appeal puch this coin into the MS67 grade. You won&#039;t find many like this.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.gdjmsp.cointalk.org/other_pics/21%20peace%2067.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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