1870-S Half Dollar

[Dwaine]

Just purchased tonight so I don't have the coin in hand, what do you think it will grade?

 

[jgrinz]

MS-YUMMY

[Mark T]

XF 45

[prudden]

Now that's an attractive coin!!Don't know what it is exactly.The colors is certainly soft on the eyes.Incredibly even wear. AU-53?

[Dwaine]

I am leaning towards VF35 myself. The coin is raw and just purchased tonight so we will wait to see what it looks like in hand. It may stay raw or I may submit it and put it as part of my 1870 mint set.

[rrantique]

XF-45

[123cents]

I would think VF-35 to XF-40.

[Oldtrader3]

VF35 sounds right to me.

[jesbroken]

VF35. Pretty solid.

Jim

[BillJones]

Come on guys. This coin is not better than VF-25 or 30. There is lots of wear, and calling this EF would be a disservice a less than experienced buyer. The best thing you can say about that coin is that it is original, but calling this EF is something the “big ad” guys in Coin World would do. For them it would be “PQ EF” because it’s not been cleaned.

[Mark T]

Come on Bill the coin is better then a VF 25 .

 

Here is a link to a XF45 :

 

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=27022&Lot_No=11322&src=pr

 

Here is a link to a VF20:

 

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=67053&Lot_No=23686&src=pr

 

 

Looks to me to be a XF40 , at the very least a VF 35, I was generous with XF 45. It does not have that much ware to be VF 25, just look at the eagles feathers on the reverse and the hair details on the observe.

 

[BillJones]

I logged into the Heritage site and looked at the blow-ups of the EF-45 coin. Either the picture is not the best or the strike on the coin is very mushy. You can't grade a mushy struck coin by pictures; you have to look at the surfaces and grade it from that.

 

I said you coin could grade VF=25 or 30. The late Roger Cohen (author of American Half Cents, The Little Half Sisters ) used to say that owenership adds 5 points to the grade. Perhaps that where we are here.

 

It would appear that mushy strikes might be the norm for this issue. If it is the sharpness requirements for grading can be relaxed a little. But rarity does not improve the grade. That's one of the ways dealers have long employed to get more money for what they are offering.

[Mark T]

I do not collect Seated Liberty coins so I dont have much experience grading these types of coins. I do collect Bust Halves, the Eagle on the reverse of the Bust and the Seated Liberty are almost the same. The kind of ware I see on the Eagles feather looks like an XF to me.On the observe the Liberties head has a decent amount of detail left. The Drapery at the shoulder is worn down but still shows some detail. It does not appear that this coin had a weak strike. I will stick with XF40.

 

[WoodenJefferson]

Something just occured to me...with the long shots, the coin grades VF-35, but with the close in tight shots, the coin barely makes VF-30...the longer you examine this coin, the lower the grade gets.

 

I would have to say that this is one coin that would have to be seen in person to establish a "reasonable" grade.