On October 10th I received a Newfoundland 50¢ in an ICCS holder, the fourth such coin I have purchased which had been ICCS graded. So, I thought of a small game... I'm showing you the coins below ↓↓↓ and you tell me what you think the grade of each one is. If you are not comfortable with grading Newfoundland coins, you can still rank them from highest to lowest (1 ─ 2 ─ 3 ─ 4). If you want to actually try to grade them, here is the scale:
Here are the coins in chronological order, first in the ICCS holders:
... and after I removed them from the ICCS holders (sorry, 1881 is on the right and 1885 on the left):
Note that I removed some yellow glue-like deposit from the queen's face on the 1881 coin.
Once I have a good number of answers, I'll show you the ICCS holders. On a desktop open the pictures in a new window for optimal visualization. Make sure you don't let others influence you in your grading. Please don't comment on others' grades since that would influence yet others who have not posted yet. Let's see what each one thinks with as little influence as possible from others' opinions.
Note that you may well disagree with the ICCS grades when I show them to you!
Here are the dates; you can copy and paste them in your own post if you want to play:
The 1876 is badly damaged on the reverse, but the obv is decent. If somehow the damage was ignored I'd say VF25-XF40 - It's also been cleaned... so yea it shouldn't really get a grade.
The 1874 is cleaned too - Perhaps VF20-VF30
The 1885 although cleaned has repatinated, Possibly F15-VF20
Only the 1881 shows signs of having been lightly cleaned. It's probably because of the photos that they all look cleaned to your eyes.
ICCS adds comments such as "cleaned" or "scratches", but none of these were marked as "cleaned"; the 1876 received ─not surprisingly─ the comment "scratches".
I’m not the best coin grader, but just at a quick glance I would say around
1874 ─ grade: rank: VF
1876 ─ grade: rank: VF
1881 ─ grade: rank: -VF
1885 ─ grade: rank:F
edit, I didn’t see the scratches at first, I thought it was tape. 1876 -F
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!
Thanks to all who have participated so far. I'm hoping a few more will do so before I show you the ICCS grades for those coins! Don't be shy. It's likely your grades will be as good as those of ICCS.
I may sound a bit harsh, but IMHO none of these coins could jump above the F grade, if you get my drift. The 1876 one could be of the highest grade, but this nasty graffiti
I'll give it a try
1874 ─ VF20
1876 ─ VF25
1881 ─ F12
1885 ─ F15
I collect and deal in ancient Roman coin. In case you're looking for affordable ancient coins or need any help with the coins you already have send me a message.
I'll be revealing the ICCS grades today (Tuesday) in the late afternoon, Eastern Time Zone (if you're in America). In the meantime anyone else who'd like to try is welcome to do so.
I see very little difference between the 1874 and 1885 coins, except that the 1874 has a stronger strike on the reverse.¹ Interestingly, most of you graded the 1874 higher than the 1885, which I would agree with.
One more point. Grading is one thing, PMD another. So, I think grading companies are right to grade and then to comment on any PMD and cleaning issues.
Comments are welcome!
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¹ Newfoundland and Canadian coins from Victoria to George V often look like they are worn or (more accurately) weakly struck on the reverse because of the high relief of the head on the obverse.
