Nice thread! How about Red on the 1902 and Brown for the 1909. I'm no expert but in my opinion the 1917 looks like normal wear and color (Brown). I hope I was some help.
can you explain a little more please. When i look at the coin under normal light it looks red. So I’m genuinely curious.
The RD,RB, and BN are meant to designate the amount of original mint luster on or remaining on the surface of a copper coin. It has more to do with MS grade coins with original mint luster on them and not cleaned or polished coins. I do not think your 1902 coin has any original mint luster on it. Yes it may look Red, But it would never receive a 'Red' designation from a Third Party Grading company.
Red brown, brown, brown, in that order. 1902 cleaned, pvc. 1909 harshly cleaned, pvc, verdigris. 1917 cleaned, verdigris, pvc, heavy circulation wear, and beat up.
None of the three has luster. A TPG designation is not required for color classification. Luster....wellll, no story there, on these well circulated pieces.
Here's the thing about that picture, on the Red line, coins 3,4, and 5 qualify for Red Brown, not Red. There's a specific percentage of the coin that must be original mint red for the coin to be labled as Red - 95% of the coin must be original mint red to get that designation. And there's simply no way that coins 3,4, and 5 meet that qualification. And yes even PCGS says the same thing. https://www.pcgs.com/lingo/r Red Term used for a copper coin that still retains 95 percent or more of its original mint bloom or color. PCGS allows only slight mellowing of color for this designation (RD). Red-Brown A copper coin that has from 5 to 95 percent of its original mint color remaining (RB). Which of course means that any coin with 5% or less of original mint red color will be classified as Brown. No, it doesn't have anything to do with luster, it only has to do with color. Even a Brown coin can have very high quality luster.
The coin Is red, but it isn't Mint State red. It is just when I think of R RB B I think of mint state not a well circulated coin. That one has been obviously cleaned.
