The Official CoinTalk Grading Experiment 12

How good is CoinTalk compared to the TPGs? Let's find out! Over the next several months, I'll be posting a continuous stream of Guess the Grade threads. I will be using photos from the Heritage auction archives (please do not cheat!).

All you have to do is guess the grade! I will be attaching a poll to each thread. Please select the grade that you think best represents the coin (to avoid bias, please select your grade before viewing the rest of the thread).

Also feel free to post your opinions about the coin, and it would be most educational if you could explain why you chose the grade you did.

In order to give everyone time to respond, I'll reveal the grade Monday evening.

Around Christmas, I will tally up the results and see how we did. This thread is an offshoot of a recent thread where I compared CT grading to the TPG, seen here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/how-good-is-cointalk-at-grading.343417/

We're going to cover a wide range of material, and some of it may be out of your wheelhouse. However, if you are a confident grader, you should be able to accurately grade almost any coin.

 

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I'll go, and see what I can learn. Nice unc, I'll guess 65.

Edit: If it was a Morgan I'd say 64.

 

I went 65. Gem strike with blazing luster and just a few contact marks keeping it from 66.

66 wouldn’t surprise me but I think it’s a 65 CAC.

 

I went MS64. Very nice fields and luster, some definite marks in the fields and some on the portrait. Very nice eye appeal; my eyes popped when I scrolled down to the coin I think I said "Holy sh--".

 

I would guess MS66. Some minor marks, yet they don't distract from the coin.

 

64. Great luster, but quite a few distracting marks on obverse.

 

I guessed a 65! Very nice example, wish it was mine, but that's ok! That one is reserved for collectors with deeper pockets than mine!

 

Im at 65 as well. Minimal marks, nice luster, look gem to me.

 

I’m at 64 too. Blazing luster but quite a few marks. Maybe the luster bumped it to 65 but I feel like it’s a perfect example of a choice 64 CAC.

 

Nice 64. Great luster, strike. Surfaces don't have enough undisturbed space for a 65, especially the left obverse field.

 

I was grappling between 63 and 64; the grading companies appear to allow more hits and marks on gold, so it could easily be a higher grade.
I settled with 63 as the hits seem numerous enough to me.

 

I'm at 64. Just too many hits for gem, but wouldn't be surprised if it upgrade.

 

I'm prone to undergrade, but this time I think 66; the tics look trivial and non distracting to me, and the coin appears to have great luster, strike and color.

 

I'm gonna go with my gut and call this a MS66.

 

I like this as a 65. I can't see it as a 66, whatever is going on under the first star is going to be a limiter. There appears to be a fair number of disturbances above Liberty's hair and in front of the coronet as well.

Luster appears to be very strong. Nice reverse too.

 

I'm going for MS 64 ,but to be honest I have no experience in grading gold coins.
Thecoin does have a lot of nicks and ticks in the field don't think it has full luster

 

I think many people have less experience with gold, and so they may be hesitant to post or guess on this one.

Don't be shy, give it a go!

 

65

 

Looking at the poll, there’s no option for a details grade and only a single option for an AU grade. It’s certainly not an MS-60/61 nor an MS67/68, so the only likely range is MS62-66. Not sure if this skews the results...? I’d have added AU-55, AU-Det and UNC-Det instead of mentioned grades.