"Alan Williams" wrote in message
...
James Higby wrote:

"Ira Stein" wrote in message
ups.com...
Fine -15!

PCGS has market graded the coin, and I used this as an illustration of
market grading being a two way street. The coin is dark, and the market
likes coins either white, light gray, or nearly so, and will tolerate
only lovely rainbow toning near the rims if it's not pure white! Of
course, the blueish dark gray toning of the coin shows an untampered
piece, but that won't garner a higher point grade. In fact, in detail,
the coin is nearly a perfect match for teh VF illustrated in Al
Overton's epic book on Bust Halves, and that book was published over 20
years ago!

I'm speechless.

No, that's a lie, I've got plenty to say.

Is this an April Fool?

Are we all on Candid Camera?

In my view that coin is massively more desirable than any white or light
gray coin. It is just plain handsome. My guess of PCGS VF35 was based
on
that bias of mine. I fully expected my guess to be blown away by the
revelation of an XF40 or 45 slab grade.

F-15! I'd buy slabbed halves that looked like that all day at that level
(if I could afford to do so).

The guy who paid to get that coin slabbed got robbed - thrice.

If it's a perfect match for Al Overton's VF plate coin, what gives with
the
F-15?

How many dealers do we know who would offer that coin at VF30 to XF40 if
it
were raw? 100? 200? 500? How many of those are respected members of
the
Priesthood of Numismatics?

Why can't I ever find F-15 coins that look like that?

I want my Mommy.

Jimmy

I'm with you, man. I'm a complete Know-Nothing about early Dollars, but
that obverse detail suggested far better than an F-15 to me.

Alan
'the eye of the beholder betrayed by the holder'

For the record, it's a half dollar.

But I have seen countless draped bust/small eagle dollars in PCGS VF35 and
better holders that possessed detail exactly like that on the obverse. I
know that in a sense it's apples and oranges, but in another it really
isn't, especially if you look at the pictures and descriptions in the
grading guides.

James
'that was an excellent tag line, Alan'