What would you grade this 1841- Large O Seated Dime?? I found it 55+ year ago in my uncle store. it was back room in a desk draw that I did my school work on. it was stuck on the back of the draw.
What die type would you grade it? here the link below? http://www.seateddimevarieties.com/pictorial/1841o.htm
Yeah. The reverse looks much better than the obverse. The scratches on the obverse really take away from it.
I would call it a VF30 + . I agree also, that photo doesn't exhibit any indications of having been cleaned , and I would say " All original " surfaces. Very difficult to come by " Raw " . I'd attribute it to the F-103 variety . As always, I reserve the right to be incorrect .
jello - it's important to understand something. Even though someone has had a coin in their possession for 50 or even a 100 years and they know for a fact that the coin was never cleaned in that entire time. That does not mean that the coin was not cleaned at some point before that. You see, for centuries it was the normal and usual practice for collectors to harshly clean their coins. Back then, rubbing your coins down with a cloth every now and then was condsidered to be taking care of your coins. It was normal for this to happen, just about everybody did it. And this remained ot be true up until the 1950's, and for some collectors even beyond that date. And that's why coins that have never been harshly cleaned and are still original are so highly prized today. So just because someone thinks a coin you own may have been harshly cleaned, that does mean that they think that you were the one who may have cleaned it. They merely think that the coin may have been harshly cleaned at some point in its life. And they think that to a large degree because most raw coins have been cleaned at some point in their lives. It is only maybe 2 out of 10 that have not been harshly cleaned.
Jello, I am sorry you disagree but the obverse especially looks dull and lifeless. I have always been taught this is from old cleaning that like Doug says was common 100+ years ago. I have never seen mercury dimes grading vf to look so dull. I could be wrong, but take a glass to it and look at the surface. I am saying this from a photo, but you have it in hand and can check. Chris
If you were 101 years old, you too would look a bit lifeless as well. Doug tends to go with the law of probability , which has it's merits . There just doesn't seem to be any strong indicators , based upon the photo supplied to warrant that call IMHO . An in hand inspection , might possibly suggest otherwise.
You could be right, but I have many seated coins in that grade or lower that aren't that washed out white look. I agree this color is common, but was always told it was due to old cleanings that were common back then. I go back to my original point that I have never seen a VF mercury dime that washed out. Same goes for a roosevelt. At VF there should still be life in the surfaces, in my opinion. I own some coins from the 19th century that look like this, (key dates I couldn't find otherwise, or from group lots I purchased), but have always labelled them as cleaned. If you are right, and mine aren't cleaned either, I probably just made a few thousand dollars! Coin surfaces shouldn't be affected by age if that is what is being claimed. Luster does not by itself just wither away to my knowledge. I have 2000 year old coins with more luster than this one, (no offense jello). The reverse looks better, or maybe something was rubbing the surface that caused this color or its simply the photo. I don't know. Its not I dislike the coin, though it sounds like it, it looks very familiar since I have simply seen thousands of 19th century coins look just like it, and I said I own quite a few of them as well. Chris
There are far to many intangibles that could account for this look . Back to the original threads question , what do you grade the coin and what variety would you assign ? Neither of us are going to win anything, arguing about something , neither of us can prove or dis-prove , without having the coin in hand .
Variety ? - I haven't a clue. Grade ? - Ungradeable, because the coin looks to have been harshly cleaned and re-toned. VF details.
I would give the obverse a very fine and the reverse an extremely fine. It is strange that the obverse is more worn than the reverse, but it happens sometimes.
