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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 24653493, member: 105571&quot;]I&#039;ve been coin collecting seriously since I retired 5 years ago.&nbsp; And been a CT member since 2019.&nbsp; When I first started I made many of the tyro mistakes well-documented in these forums and learned from them all.&nbsp; But I like to think I&#039;ve learned much more than that from a combination of looking at lots of coins, extensive reading, and digesting the wisdom shared in these forums.&nbsp; That wisdom includes how to look at coins and interpret what is visible.</p><p><br /></p><p>So here&#039;s an example of that acquired knowledge and experience from the recent Summer FUN show.&nbsp; I was looking for a replacement for the current Variety 4 (1860-73) Liberty Seated Half Dime in the Type Set.&nbsp; Only saw one that might have met the criteria residing in the case of a well-known dealer.&nbsp; The coin (shown below) was in a NGC PF-65 CAMEO holder and was very attractive to the naked eye despite being something of a marginal cameo.&nbsp; Under the glass, the obverse showed what might have been either scratches in the slab, hairlines from an old wipe, or die polish lines - all encompassing the entirety of the obverse fields.&nbsp; These lines were very heavy and not visible to my naked eye.&nbsp; The reverse was perfect.</p><p><br /></p><p>After identifying the recognizable and very few slab scratches, hairlines were eliminated since they didn&#039;t extend over the devices and were much too heavy to be hairlines.&nbsp; Plus, it was just unlikely that the TPG would straight-grade or not net-grade the coin if these lines had been hairlines.&nbsp; Finally, I concluded these lines were raised above the surface of the field, thus incuse in the die and were extremely heavy die polish lines.&nbsp; This analysis took no more than 90 seconds.&nbsp; After which I thanked the dealer and passed on the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>When I returned home, I checked Al Blythe&#039;s book <i>The Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Half Dimes </i>and found the following entry for 1873:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;I have seen specimens where the entire obverse die has very pronounced die polishing lines.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>A few years ago I would have purchased this coin and later regretted it.&nbsp; I have the CT members to thank for at least part of my improved skills at reading and interpreting coin clues.&nbsp; So, thank you all you contributors to CT!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1570437[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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