CAC and franklin full bells

[halfpint]

http://www.caccoin.com/?p=19

 

......here's what they think your frankies should look like.

 

[James_OldeTowne]

Wow, I find it amazing that anyone would be able to refine the "FBL" designation to fourteen separate levels of resolution! But it's nice to see an attempt at standardizing the criteria somewhere.

 

Of course, it's unfortunate that we continue to focus on one tiny percentage of a coin's overall sharpness to determine whether it's designation-worthy. It's too bad we can't just say forget all these crazy letters and acronyms and just go to a designation of "fully struck" or not.

 

Edited to add: I'm surprised that some of the sampled FBL coins are considered FBL. They don't all appear to have two full sets of bell lines to me. But maybe that's an imaging issue.

[physics-fan3.14]

Well, looking at the text and pictures, it is immediately apparent that CAC is using the PCGS standards for FBL. This would explain why, James, many of those listed as FBL are not in my opinion really FBL. PCGS only uses the bottom set of lines, NGC uses both sets. What this basically means to me is that PCGS and now CAC are useless to die hard Franklin collectors such as myself.

[RWB]

Well, maybe you can find one with the date "XXXX" !

[braddick]

I always thought FBL was a fad- but it's been a couple of decades now and the designation is still going strong.

 

You can have a weak pass & stow but if the lines are complete and well struck, the Franklin can be worth multiples.

 

A strongly stuck coin should be fully struck everywhere and not just a part of it (such is also the case with FSB's on Mercury dimes and a FH on Standing Liberty quarters or, even more obviously so, FS's on Jefferson nickels).

[physics-fan3.14]

 

A strongly stuck coin should be fully struck everywhere and not just a part of it (such is also the case with FSB's on Mercury dimes and a FH on Standing Liberty quarters or, even more obviously so, FS's on Jefferson nickels).

 

:thumbsup: I agree. This is one of the big criticisms many collectors have with these strike designations. I take the FBL as a recommendation - just because a TPG has called it so does not mean it is acceptable to me. I'm even more strict than NGC