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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;messydesk, post: 3993307, member: 1765&quot;]Indeed, I tied for first with Ron Guth out of 103 participants.&nbsp; The scoring was such that you got 5 points for a correct answer, and 1 to 3 if you were close.&nbsp; Ron got 2 more correct than I did (he got 7, I got 5), but he also totally missed 2 more (he missed 3, I missed 1).&nbsp; So I guess I had a tighter grouping?&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>As Jason said, it was a tough box to grade with a rather diverse assortment of coins.&nbsp; A few of us discussed the coins with the Paul (person doing the contest) from NGC, so I have a little insight as to what was there.&nbsp; Going from memory and Jason&#039;s cues, there were three Morgan dollars.&nbsp; One was an 80-S in 68 (I may have said 67) and one was an 85-CC in 61 (I think I said 62).&nbsp; Another was an 89-P with an added CC, which jumped out at me due to the strike not looking at all like a genuine 89-CC, which are disproportionately PL, by the way.&nbsp; The only gold was a proof 68 or 69 Iranian bullion coin.&nbsp; There was a really neat bronze medal with high relief that graded 66BN.&nbsp; I think I got this one right.&nbsp; The killer coin of the bunch was a 1788 Massachusetts cent.&nbsp; I wanted to grade it 66, but couldn&#039;t bring myself to do it so I said 65.&nbsp; It was a 66.&nbsp; Drop-dead gorgeous piece that is a $50,000 coin.&nbsp; Paul said many thought it was too good to be true and called it AU58 or fake.&nbsp; The seated coins were an XF40 half dime and a VF25 quarter.&nbsp; I think I got them both right.&nbsp; A 1798 cent graded VG8 that I graded 10, but was close to calling details for porosity and borderline damage.&nbsp; A toned Barber dime graded 62, which was hard to grade because of the toning, but careful inspection revealed both the hairlines and the fact that the luster wasn&#039;t broken.&nbsp; A double-struck 2 Anna with 2nd strike off center was pretty cool.&nbsp; I think it graded 65 and I called it 64.&nbsp; The California commemorative was counterfeit.&nbsp; The proof South African coin was PR68.&nbsp; I called it 67.&nbsp; They wouldn&#039;t put an attractive AT coin in there, probably because it&#039;s too controversial of a statement.&nbsp; The one I had the biggest disagreement with, as did others in the discussion, was an Isabella quarter, which they graded 67.&nbsp; It was very attractive, but not a 67 by a long shot.&nbsp; I called it 65, as did another contestant.&nbsp; There was also a shattered die Civil War token that graded 58.&nbsp; The rub on the coin was only visible on the die breaks.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s 15.&nbsp; NGC will be putting up an article with pictures of the coins and their comments.</p><p><br /></p><p>One comment I had was that there were no US moderns, and none of the notoriously tough US coins like 3c silver, buffalo nickels and $2.50 or $5 Indians.&nbsp; I also said they should put a hammered coin, like a Henry VIII groat or half-groat, if they want to mess with people, but there&#039;s only so much you can cover with 15 coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1051478[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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