another guess this coins grade on the holder and your opinion on this coin

[michael]

care to evaulate and give your opinion on what the slabbed PCGS grade is on the holder of this coin?? and assign other attributes to this coin?

 

and i understand to tell anything from a scan is iffy at best

but this is all we gots on here!

 

give it a try!

 

michael

 

[spy88]

michael, I guess I will go ahead and be the first to give it a go.

 

As with your last coin post for grading/attributes, this is a stunning example of a Trade Dollar. The razor-sharp details are the first thing I noticed---if they were any sharper, you could shave with it!

 

The reverse appears mottled between 11 o'clock around to about 5 o'clock and affects the fields surrounding the eagle. There appears to be some VERY light toning scattered around and I would venture to say the surfaces are almost reflective. I see perhaps a dozen small black specks mainly near the bottom and right. Overall, I would give the reverse a MS66.

 

The obverse also exhibits some mottling but not as wide-spread as the reverse and stays mainly away from the center and to the right side of the coin. There is some definite tone visible in the fields from about 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock, some very subtle and soft pastels of pink, rose, green and blue running top to bottom thru the arm, down thru the thigh area and maybe thru the pedestal as well. Again, there are maybe 6 black specks the eye must contend with, in the upper right. Hard to tell between scratches that MIGHT be on the coin, but I think are all on the holder. Overall, I give a MS67 to the obverse.

 

Were I the grader with this coin in front of me, I could easily "hear" myself balancing out the outstanding strike detail and tone vs the mottling and specks.

BUT, WAIT! They may not have been there when it was graded!

 

Surprise! My guess is PR67!

 

P.S. Michael, you really should put some scratch remover to the faces of the holder on this one. Much too nice a coin to let them distract your attention away from its beauty!

[jtryka]

michael,

 

these are getting more fun each time! This is a gorgeous coin in my opinion, and I'll preface by saying that I know diddly about trade dollars, but I'll try anyway. Unlike you, I am really not a fan of wild toning, but instead prefer original white silver coins (i.e. not the ugly dipped out white coins mass produced to get an extra point on the grade). This coin looks pretty darn original to me, it may have been dipped long a ago, but even if it was, it's recovered nicely. There seems to be a nice thick skin, with an ever so slight golden hue on the edges, that screams "look at me! I've never been touched in an unseemly way!" The strike seems impressive to me, though that may just be a character common to trade dollars. Liberty has fine details, and the eagle is almost three dimensional! The fields seem inordinately clear, suggesting this coin may not have seen much abuse even in a bag from the mint! Overall, I would probably grade it MS-66, though there are some marks on the front near the base of liberty, and I am not sure if they are toning or some other discoloration or an actual mark. I think PCGS may have dinged the grade for it, so my guess is they gave it an MS-65. It's a really gorgeous coin, and I really enjoyed looking at it!

[EVillageProwler]

Michael,

 

Please stop showing my coin around. I am not happy!

 

(j/k)

 

And, when do I take possession of this specimen?

 

 

EVP

[errorist]

MS 63

[michael]

spy88 very good accessment and great observations just from a scan scans are hard to judge coins by and with what you had to work with your accessment is A++ and i agree with you

 

jtryka your accessment is correct and i agree with you 100%

incredible just from a scan

 

you guys are amazing

 

evp you are first on the list! you are an astute seated advanced collector and are a gentleman as i know you know the grade of this coin so you reserved comment

 

errorist you would be the ultimate rare coin buyer for a top rare coin firm you would make them millions!

 

thanks everyone for your comments i think ultiamtely this is what the coin forums are all about

 

michael

[michael]

i hope others can comment and then i will post the grade saturday!

 

and my own sight seen comments

 

michael

[RobertB]

Something with regards to the color bothers me. I think however it may be the scan or picture. Best guess: MS 64??? You got me good on this one.

[EZ_E]

Good morning, Michael. As always, you never disappoint us!

 

This is a very nice example but the "buts" will keep the grade down. The hairlines on both sides and the diag. line at 5:00 on the obverse will keep the coin from grading an easy ms 66. However, I think that "as is" the coin will grade ms 64. It might even fall to ms 63 if the grader is having a moody day.

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing. BTW, I never have NGC/PCGS graders call me up to ask for my opinion so that is all it is: an opinion.

 

Take care, compadre!

[michael]

thanks robert and victor!

 

the coin grades ms 64 pcgs

 

the coin has NO hairlines and the coin has NO color at all but hard to tell from the scans

 

but the coin needs to be sight seen the lustre is monster and it has a white antique really thick skin to the coin

 

it has NEVER been dipped again i guess you need to see the coin in person to see this

 

the line on the obverse of the coin at 5 pm is actually a grease mark from the dies still on the coin all these years whomever got this coin got it after it was struck and never did anything to it

 

the coin is actually so high end it screams and is technically an ms65

 

but because of the weakness of strike on the reverse claws they call it ms64

 

and this weakness of strike of the claws is common to all 1874 trades hastely struck the first month of january to be sent over to the orient to compete with the spainish dollar this is how they come someone purposely saved this coin probsbly bought it directly from the philly mint in jan or feb 1874!!

 

i guess for me i look at it like this..........

 

a real pcgs ms65 coin and i mean no brainer all there is a $14,000 coin easy

 

and i know this coin is really really nice and totally original white to boot rare like this but this coin is not worth $14k

 

as it is almost there but not quite

 

also i have not ever seen or heard of any pcgs ms64 selling to my knowledge so i am assumeing that the pops for the ms64 pcgs coins are not correct

 

also the 1874 like this or gem mintstate is one of if not the most undervalued underrated trades bar none!

 

but again who knows? who cares??

 

but you never see any 74 trades in choice/gem at all

 

anyway for me ms65 obverse and ms64.99 reverse

 

but again a really true ms 65 for me is a $14k coin and this coin is not worth 14k hence not a ms65...... but close and someday the originality of the coin its thick crunchy skin, non toned surfaces superb eye appeal

 

might push it over the edge to ms65 so to speak

 

 

 

michael

 

[RobertB]

Cool. I'm getting good at this grading!! stuff

Thanks for all the opportunities. You and all the others posting these coins for us to take a stab at and all the dialogue involved is a real learning experience. I wish I could post a bunch, but this board won't accept my scanner file type? I'm working on it though!! Thanks again for the opportunity!!!