When I collected frankies I thought they were hard...but man, these small cents I somehow got into are making them easy. what is the one coin you hate having to grade? stainless
Peace dollars and Ikes. Both lack sifficient detail in the design to use as reliable grade indicators. Guy~
without question it is the $2.50 and $5 Indian gold. The incused design makes for surfaces that are far different from most coins, and gold is in itself hard to grade because of weak strike vs. wear being hard to judge. I usually have to defer to someone else on these, but if I ever have the $$$$ to collect them, I am sure I would improve.
MS 62-67 Washington quarters are the coins that blur my eyes the most. I also dislike grading MS64-67 Commemoratives. When we have our grading tests each month a work Im usually 6 out 10 correct on the commems it seems .
Not to sound smart alec, but... the coins I find hardest to grade are the ones I know little about ! So I buy the book before the coin. That said, I find Early Copper (half cents and difficult, because there is so much variation in planchet quality and general preservation. There seems little rhyme or reason as to which coins the TPGs call "problem" coins and which ones pass. I've seen nice ones fail, and questionable ones pass.
Walkers , have a hard time with weak strikes vrs. wear , but it's getting better . Also Buffalos Nickles . rzage
I have to agree with a few others on the Indian Head incused design. I love the design, but it's a tough one to grade for me as well. Guy~
All good answers. Soo true on the gold indians. I admit I keep the ANA grading guide on my desk for series I am not familiar with.