Grading Assistance -- 1921 Peace Dollar

[gedis3]

Raw, Circulated, and yes -- before you ask -- it was also one of the coins in the cigar box lot I snagged at an estate sale 14 years ago for an insanely low amount along with the Bearded Goddess, please don't hate me.

 

Sorry about the antique-y looking pics, my little fuji digital doesn't have a manual white balance setting and I'm tired of fighting it... hopefully you can come up with a grade from these photos. I'm camera shopping for something a bit more flexible.

 

It retains a little luster. Some unknown funk on the Reverse, see the Eagle's eye and middle of his back. Not sure what it is, there was some copper in the box with it and it might be some transferred verdigris...

 

I have the latest ANA grading book, and I have a number in my head, but I wanted to see what everyone else said about it.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Buffalo_Pete]

VF-35 to EF-40

 

It's a better strike than most, but still shallow on the central hair details obverse.

[gedis3]

Thanks, Pete! I was thinking somewhere in the VF30-40 range.

 

The strike isn't the best, even on a date considered "high relief" in most books -- and being circulated a good bit didn't help matters much.

 

Still, not a horrible find at the bottom of a box -- the '21 is the first year of mintage and second most pricey of the PDs... I can almost afford to wrap a series collection around it if I stick to the same condition range.

[al_e_gator]

I agree with the above posts, XF40 would be about right, not quite a 45.

[James_OldeTowne]

I was going to guess VF-20, because I think the small gashes on the eagle are detrimental to the overall value.

 

Here's a cropped, resized, merged and auto-adjusted version of your image. Let us know if it's more realistic.

 

[gedis3]

That looks a bit more accurate -- has a little more luster than the adjusted pic, but I realize you didn't have a really good pic to start with.

 

Thanks for the PhotoShop work!

[thebeav]

I'd buy it as an XF all day......

 

Paul