Grade my 1936 French Indochina 50 Centimes please [solved]

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces11286.html
Sorry I can't provide better pictures. (this is also the same coin pictured on the Numista page)

Again, I'm too afraid to grade it myself, because of personal bias and lack of knowhow, so I ask on the forum.

VF Cleaned

I might go XF, but as Oggy said cleaned, and pretty harshly

Thank you both, I am in the process of going over all my coins in my Numista collection and reconsidering the grades of some I entered back when I was a newbie.

For this one I was hoping for XF-AU, but I agree with you both. Any further opinions are also welcome.

I think XF for the details - in fact this might not have been circulated at all - but it's just too knocked around and nicked and dinged to be AU.

As I grade my coins i think this piece is for AU..

Quote: "Jesse11"​I think XF for the details - in fact this might not have been circulated at all - but it's just too knocked around and nicked and dinged to be AU.

​
For me, flash photography obfuscates wear too much for me to give it more than a VF really. Even with all the obfuscation you can see its a bit battered - I'd want to see it without it before going higher.

Grading is a very subjective art, as is clear from very different opinions regarding this coin, ranging from VF to AU. I always considered it rather useful to compare with opinions of respected American grading services, since the Sheldon Scale is what they use and are getting handsomely paid for their intimate knowledge of it.
Here are the pictures of two coins I suggest to compare the CassTaylor's coin with, regarding wear, cleaning and surface scratches. On which of the three coins nose, fingers and other small and important raised details are more worn? Let's see what the participants of this discussion think, in particular those who offered extreme opinions (VF, AU). If anybody offers a guess regarding the grades of the two illustrated coins, it would also be of interest. I'll post the images of slabs a bit later.

XF Details - Picture is as bad as casstaylors almost, so can't really tell much.
AU53-MS61 (Should be AU details really)

EF. No issues.

I guess even a + is warranted but I'm subconsciously looking at the lack of detail in the plinth supporting the woman's arm, strange bit of non-engraving don't you think? Yeah, it's been cleaned, along with the other 99% of vintage silver, including those graded by TPGs. If they didn't turn a blind eye they wouldn't have any customers would they?

Coins of that age and composition left circulation well over half a century ago and will have passed through the hands of dozens of collectors and dealers. At least several of whom have tried to improve it. It's my personal view that old cleaning is the norm and shouldn't be viewed as a negative. I guess in a strange way, for different reasons, I find myself in bed with the TPG pirates on this issue. We should instead concentrate on highlighting the positives of those very, very scarce coins which still have their original surfaces. Maybe if we move the numismatic Overton Window by a few degrees we can persuade the next generation of collectors towards venerable patina instead of blast white "shiny"?

Please note: I'm talking about coins which have been cleaned, relatively harmlessly, by someone with a degree of skill and not horribly scored, or polished junk. And by patina I mean natural toning, not egg white / blowtorch birthed "monster toning".

Please, Please, really note: Don't take any of the above as an invitation to start dipping and rubbing at your coins. While we have to accept that the vast majority of coins circulating in the collecting sphere have been altered in some way, this only serves to make your dirty looking coin all the more valuable. Once that 100 year old toning has been removed it won't be coming back again.

I don't see much wear on the coin, so I am going with AU. It does appear to be cleaned though so AU details.

aUNC

Thanks to everyone who answered (on my coin), and ditto for bearing with the photos as they are. A range of opinions so for now I've marked the coin as XF in my Numista collection. Interesting comparisons by Andrey.

I'll probably make similar threads like this one for some of the other coins whose grades I'm re-evaluating in my collection, so stay tuned.

I would grade the coin at least XF45 or even AUNC. The two coins I offered for comparison were graded (1) by NGC as MS62

and (2) by PCGS as MS61

By the way, on both coins the nose is more worn than on the CassTaylor's coin.