I have an 1856 FE graded by PCGS as MS-62. It's a Snow S-3. IF I understand correctly, PCGS no longer grades any 1856 FE's as MS. Am I correct in this? When I asked them about this they responded that my coin is still valid as MS -- at least in their database. A bit confusing if they no longer recognize any 1856 FE's as anything but proof. But if that's true I'll keep the coin slabbed as is. No reason to spend a bunch of money getting it regraded as PF. I wanted MS in the first place. Comments?
Definitely keep it as MS62 since PCGS shows 38 equal and 92 better, whereas for proofs they indicate 119 equals and 507 better.
Prompted me to go back to my Snow, 3rd Edition, 2014. All claims or suggestions below are derived from Snow. Your S-3 is part of the First Striking Period (late 1856 to early 1857) of non-proof coins (about 634-800 coins). The S-1 and S-5 of the First Striking Period are proof coins (about 25-50 coins). The Second Striking Period (1857 - 1860) were all restrikes for collectors/dealers of which about 25-50 were non-proofs and 1000-1500 were proofs. Snow says "At the present time, most collectors recognize the S3 as a non-proof issue of the Flying Eagle cent. Presently (2014), PCGS and NGC call most 1856 Flying Eagles proof. Weakly struck or examples with strike doubling sometimes still get graded as Mint State." Further on page 37: "From 1993 until 1998, PCGS put a MS designation on the S3 die pair. After that, they declared all 1856 Flying Eagle cents to be Proof format...The Numismatic Guarantee Corporation (NGC) has made it clear that they will not designate any 1856 Flying Eagle cent as an MS coin." As far as your coin, Greysheet says the mint state grade is worth about $2K more than the proof grade. If it was mine, I'd keep it as an MS-62 which is not only more numismatically accurate but also the smart money move.
