Can you spare a grade on a nice 1855 Seated Liberty?

[lanc32-migration]

After being out of collecting for over 15 years, I'm falling back in love with it. A recent purchase (arriving shortly in the mail) was this 1855 Seated Liberty. It's a beautiful coin, but has one thing that's bothering me. Based on other pics of NGC and "the other" services' coins, it looks like a 64/65.

 

However I have a question for the group: The mark above the "D" on the reverse appears to be an "A" and I'm not sure if it is graffiti or not. Thoughts? I would have the oppty to return the coin if so. Think NGC would BB?

 

See attached pics. (I'm still figuring out the intext postings)

 

Thanks in advance.

[bsshog40]

Welcome lanc32! That's a very nice looking seated! I agree with you on what looks like an A. I wouldn't presume this was any type of mint error and would've have to have been post mint damage. I'm not an expert on these so I'm sure others will chime in later and over the weekend.

 

[RareSov]

Looks pretty nice but yeah, the A.. a real shame or bit of history ?

[Coindude]

That could be just a toning spot, or something the lighting caught. It will be hard to tell until you get the coin in hand due to the slightly out of focus pictures. As for grade, I wouldn't hazard a guess, not my area of expertise that's for sure.

 

And, a hearty welcome aboard!

[MarkFeld]

Welcome to the form.

 

While the coin appears to be uncirculated, the bright images don't allow for a good look at the surfaces for purposes of a meaningful grade guess. Often, what looks to be graffiti, is merely a haphazard abrasion or difference in color on a coin - it's nearly impossible to tell from an image.

[physics-fan3.14]

I agree with Mark, until you have it in hand, its impossible to tell. Pictures can often deceive, and what your mind interprets as an A etched into the surface may just be some coincidentally placed toning spots.

[BillJones]

It's hard to grade this from the images. The sharpness grade appears to be Mint State, although I can't say on what level.

 

That darn "A" does look like a problem to to me. That might be why the coin was sold raw. As to whether it will get a body bag, I think the answer is yes, unless the grader somehow misses it.

[RI AL]

A handsome coin! Love thgolden color...assuming that it is not just the result of the photo.

 

The A above the D, well, I also think that it may just be a bag mark. Doesn't look deliberate in my opinion.

[dean1345]

I'm with Al on this one. I think it will grade MS62.

[MarkFeld]

I'm with Al on this one. I think it will grade MS62.

Based on what? The images show virtually no imperfections. I doubt that the surfaces are anywhere near as clean as they appear to be, but based on the images, why did you only grade it MS62?

[rrantique]

I'm with Al on this one. I think it will grade MS62.

Based on what? The images show virtually no imperfections. I doubt that the surfaces are anywhere near as clean as they appear to be, but based on the images, why did you only grade it MS62?

 

I think the mark is just a photo anomaly and coin should grade MS 63-64. At least the photo does.

 

Edited for Welcome Lanc

[HiHoAudio]

Hard to tell from the photos, but I would give it a MS63 at the very least.

 

Clean fields, great details, above average strike, heck I wish I owned it!

[Mark T]

As soon as I saw the picture I knew that it was a GSC coin .

 

Item # 290320985248

 

Sorry to say but you may have an Au slider or very low grade MS.

I strongly advise you to take the coin to a local dealer for assessment.

GSC doctors up their pictures to make the coin look better and hide imperfections.

They also inflate the grade in their description. Gem BU should be MS 65 or better.

They say GEM Bu, so when the price is bidding many grade points lower people think they are getting a deal when in fact they are not . Some of their coins have also been cleaned or have altered surfaces. You paid $800 for an uncertified coin that you could have picked up for the same price certified in a MS 62 holder.

Don’t feel bad, I did the same thing last year when I started to collect again. I purchased 4 coins from GSC – took them to my local dealer and received the bad news. All were over graded by at least 4 points – one of their choice BU coins was cleaned , one coin that they called Choice Au – Unc was actually XF 45 or maybe Au 50. The other two gem BU coins were Au 58.

The best advise I can give you is to be very careful when buying raw coins on E Bay. Unless you are familiar with the seller I would advise only purchasing slabbed coins from a Top Tier TPG on EBAy and keeping you raw coin purchases where you can view the coin in hand. On the topic of slabbed coins – stay away from anything that is self slabbed . Only purchase top tier ( PCGS , NGC , ANACS, ICG ) for original coins.

 

 

Grading is subjective however EBAy is full of grossly over graded Raw coins.

 

 

[lanc32-migration]

Thank you all for chiming in. I apologize for the delay, as I have been out of time for the last week due to a family matter. I just picked up the coin.

 

I have to agree with Mark T. The coin is not at all attractive in person and I have decided to send it back. It looks like it has been cleaned sometime in the past and has a washed out look and for an "BU" coin, there's no luster left. Sort of a shame, since the coin has few bag marks.

 

The "A" mark on the reverse is barely visible and I suspect was due to the lighting of the original photo.

 

Thanks again for the advice.

 

All the best,

 

Shawn

[Mark T]

All that was lost here was your shipping costs.

The details on that coin looked to be MS , maybe it would have received MS 63 if it was not cleaned.

Unfortunately not enough honest feedback is left by people so sellers like GSC will continue to thrive. The other problem is there are so many new people in the hobby that would not know a obvious cleaned coin from an original, or an grossly over graded coin from a properly graded one. Add that to photo doctoring and you can see the problem. Ebay is basically a mine field of bad stuff. Do some homework and find the good sellers – there are many reputable ones.

Here is a good tool to use for feedback :

 

http://toolhaus.org/

 

 

[lanc32-migration]

I think your right. I tried to compare it to other NGC/PCGS auction pics on HA.com and I suspected it to be somewhere near MS63. But the photo was so doctored that it really didn't matter. Cheap cost for a good education.

 

I did buy a "Gem Proof" seated dime from them and sent it to PCGS. It came back at Proof 63. I was thinking it would grade at around Proof 64. Its worth what I paid and may put it back on ebay.

 

Thanks for the link.

[prudden]

As soon as I saw the picture I knew that it was a GSC coin .

 

Item # 290320985248

 

Me too. I really hate to try to grade coins from GSC. The Green color(a stroke of marketing genius) can hide many small problems it's almost impossible to tell what you will eventually get. Just about all of their coins look fantastic on Ebay,but if you read feedback and coin forums you'll find that isn't always the case. I have been tempted before by many of thier coins,but never pulled the trigger on any of thier coins simply for the reason of the "deceptive" pictures. And they are green for a reason. If you can get one you want for a low price,try it and see.I think they have a decent return policy. On a side noteI once asked them why they chose to show thier coins the way they do and I got back some ridiculous answer about how they loof theor best that way.Blah!.