Slab grade follies – from EF-45 in 1974 to MS-65 today

I will buy all the EF45s that look like that. That coin has never been an EF, unless your scale tops out at EF like ancients do.

I see booming luster on both sides, a mostly-full strike. There appear to be touches of wear on the hair around the ear, the nose, and the chin, but they may be strike related. There are several rim hits that were apparently ignored.

The TPGs have decided that luster is king on the early large cents, and they will ignore slight wear on lustrous large cents.

If I was a selecting collector who could afford coins at this price level, would I pay MS-65 money for it? Maybe, if the “wear” turns out to be strike weakness and the field luster is not at all impaired. The rim hots would be bothersome though. I’d probably be a buyer at closer to MS-63 money.

 

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Porosity? HA! The S-29 variety in late die state had very eroded dies that gave the coin a rough texture.

 

Ok, high point wear then. That is the difference between expertise and not. I fully bow my head and state I do not know as much as you do on such things.

Still, makes an unattractive coin. I surely would not want to spend 6 figures on an ugly example like that.