Hello. I've been going through some proof and mint sets from the 60's - 80's. I'm not a collector of these and want to get rid of them (the common ones, anyway). I came across a Franklin in a partial '62 mint set. It's untoned and, to my eye, absolutely flawless (except not FBL). I can't detect marks on it and would put it in MS68 territory simply out of caution. (I don't collect moderns but to compare it to something I have, it is nicer than an MS69 ASE.) I checked out slabbed MS66 Franklins on Heritage's auction site and also the Numismedia and PCGS price guides. MS66's (not FBL) are valued in the neighborhood of $800 to $1,000. What am I missing here? Other mint sets I have from '64 and from the 70's have the usual bag marks. Yet I've read nothing that suggests that early 60's sets were minted with special care. Can someone shed some light on this for me? I can't imagine I'd be so lucky as to get a $1,000 half from a mint set. Thanks. BTW, it's kind of sad to see that Greysheet bid on some of these proof sets is half issue price.
Here is the best I can do. The dark spots on the rim near "L I B" are on the plastic, not the coin although there is some faint toning beginning to occur at the rim, as can be seen at 2 - 3 o'clock. [/URL][/IMG] [/URL][/IMG]
Many novices tend to lean too heavily towards either marks or luster. Sounds like you are leaning too heavily towards marks. From the small pics you posted, I would vote MS64 perhaps 65, because the luster and strike look about average. Perhaps it is much better than that, but a MS68 is going to have knockout luster and a hammered strike that can call a Franklin collector from ten feet away. Without seeing the coin in hand, it would be impossible to determine that. It is possible, that you have a true MS68, however, the odds are small. Where did the mint set come from? If from recent dealer stock, odds are decent that batch of sets has been picked over by Franklin collectors, and the odds of a "wonder coin" go down. If the set is original from the mint, first owner, the odds are a bit higher, but it still like 1 in 50,000 for a MS68 coin. That's why they go for so much money. If MS68s were found in every batch of 100 sets (top 1% of coins), the price wouldn't be much. Again, marks are only part of the equation for high mint state coins. Strike and luster both have to be in the top 1% of coins to even have a shot at MS68. Again, no way to tell that from the small photos, but the odds are against it.
While it may be an MS68, as Red Tiger says, the likelihood is very small. In those lofty grades from 66up, luster is King and it's very hard to judge from photos. I would suggest you take it to some coin shows and compare it to graded Franklin's from the same date and see how it stacks up.
Thanks for the comments. I'm not claiming the coin is a 68; it just looks that clean compared to other coins. I know Franklins get beat up pretty quickly. After checking out about a dozen on Heritage, this coin is much cleaner than certainly the 65's (PCGS) and many of the 66's. Strike looks decent to me: eagle's feathers, lettering, etc. are strong. I'd be quite happy if this one were a 66! As for the luster, I'm not sure what's missing in my photos. The coin glows; it's not the plastic. I suppose I really won't know, though, until I remove it. However, there are some tarnished 66's with questionable eye appeal in Heritage's archives. Here's one: http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=1122&Lot_No=8568
Your coin looks nice enough. However, your pics are 160 by 136 pixels. At least 600 by 600 pixels or 1024 by 1024 is needed for determination of grade. For high mint state coins, seeing the coin in person is really necessary. The old cliche is that ownership adds a point to the grade. For novices (less than five years in the hobby), it is often more like two or three points. The Heritage auction link you provided, shows pop 15/0 at PCGS MS66 for 1962 Franklins, and pop 17/2 at NGC for MS66. So again, while there is a chance that you might have the nicest of all Franklins for that date, the odds are against it. Franklin half collectors have scoured most every cache of mint sets and album sets for the nicest coins for the past 20 years. Many coins have been sent in for grading multiple times hoping for that jackpot grade. All that searching and submitting has yielded 34 coins at the MS66 or better level. That 34 doesn't include any double submits, so there are probably maybe less than 20 coins at that grade or better for the date. So while you might indeed have a coin at that top grade or better, the odds are maybe 1 in 1,000 that you do. It's nothing personal, I'm just saying...
I certainly agree with everything you're saying! (Except the part about adding a few grades. I don't consider myself a novice and have a pretty good eye for grading.) It would be rare indeed to find a 66; I didn't realize pops were that low. My surprise at how nice this is is why I asked if the mint produced any 60's sets with special care. It doesn't really make any sense. Unless the plastic is hiding things (although I'm certain they would be minor), this is a very nice coin. I'll show it to a local dealer and go from there.
