1917-D Buffalo 3 1/2 Leg FS-901 Grading Experiment!

Now that the bald-headed buffalo has been revealed, here's a bit of history on this variety.

The reverse die is LMDS. It originally was paired with a different obverse die. (In the early Buff years, dies, especially at the branch mints, were replaced individually.) The original die pairing resulted in heavy die clashing, in all the usual areas: second feather/buffalo's head, chin/EPU, "LI" of LIBERTY/right rear leg, hairline/ground level, neck/buffalo's back, etc.

The press operator grabbed a wire brush and attacked the clashing with gusto. It obliterated the buff's head, but left deep parallel gouges in the buff's hindquarters. Ironically, the second feather clash is still weakly visible between the buff's head and the "U" of UNITED. Several examples exist with the deeply gouged hindquarters. The press operator evidently fixed that problem by further abrading the reverse die, this time obliterating the tail and most of the fur on the rear of the buff, along with a good part of the right rear leg.

Speculation here, but the clashed obverse die may have failed or was too worn to leave in place. The present EDS obverse die was then paired with the tremendously abraded reverse die, producing FS-901. That's why there is no evidence of clashing or abrading on the obverse.

In short:
The grade refers to the state of preservation of the coin. The coin needs to be graded in comparison to what it looked like when it left the mint, not in comparison to what other coins of the same date looked like when they left the mint.
Our Canadian friends have an easy time with this one. Canadian coins are graded exclusively on the obverse. That's what needs to be done with heavily abraded Buffs.
FS-901 generally is found in AG/G/VG, and very rarely above EF. This is a spectacular example of this variety.
Re-grade entirely by the obverse, and see what you think. The result will surprise.

fortcollins, I think that what you said about the grading of the coin based on how the Mint produced a coin with jacked dies makes sense. But I also feel that an ordinary buyer will be discerning about coins that display a nice full or fuller horn and one that is obliterated like the one in this interesting variety. As a result, the everyday buyer will be concerned very little with why the horn is obliterated and heavily discount the value of a coin like this. A more distinct horn will bring a heavy premium. We see that with the 24s and 26s.

This coin is a different story for knowledgeable specialists like Ty2020b and fortcollins because you can appreciate the lengths the Mint went to, during the run of this difficult to produce coin, to get them out the door in decent shape with the limited resources that the Mint staff had. But for most Buffalo collectors, a coin like this, despite the higher grade than indicated by the horn, is an easy pass onto something more visually attractive with better details.

Coveting a missing leg on a buffalo is part of greater American lore. I don't know if you can say the same for the hornless buffalo.

With deference to my ignorance on the fine points of grading branch mint Buffs, I'll stick with 45.

@numismatic student, There are a couple hundred collectors who would snap up an AG/G/VG example in the $50-$75 range, and maybe a few dozen who would go $200-$250 for a mid-grade. It regularly sells for four figures above EF, and let's just say the one I handled was really deep into that range.

Cherry pickers can still snag the AG/G/VG coins for $5-$10 raw and the mid-grade coins for under $50 raw, so it's a decent flip. There aren't many buyers for the higher grades, but there are very few known coins in those grades. It only takes one . . .

Ha! I hardly have a wealth of knowledge. My wife reminds me regularly that I'm the king of useless trivia.

Don't forget to search slabbed coins for unattributed FS-901s. Even in a second or third tier slab, I'd leave it in the slab. Variety Slabbing Service and others are now doing Cherrypicker Guide varieties, and their stickers are respected. That avoids the risk of dropping a grade on crossover or submission to one of the big two.

Exactly! That was my main goal with this "exercise" if you will, even if we don't have a "definitive" (no such thing) grade. Understanding the series, Buffalo or not, and the many factors that can be involved (strike, die state, etc.)

Thank you to fortcollins as always for your much appreciated input and expertise!

I'm out.

I spent some time thinking a little more about this and I think my thinking has firmed up on this substantially.

Let's take an off-center stamp. If the BEP did not carefully align the image of the stamp inside the edges of a stamp and printed it off-center, then that stamp could never receive a Superb-100 grade. This is not something that occurred outside of the production facility. It happened in production. The same could be said for the grading of banknotes.

Why are coins special that the use of overpolished and damaged dies well beyond their useful lives to save money does not affect the grade of the coin that is produced? In my mind the quality of the product as it rolls off the production line matters, and if a buffalo was minted without a horn, in my mind, that precludes a MS-70 or even a gem MS65 grade as it rolls off the press.

A specialist that prizes that coin may love it because s/he understands how it came to be, but a coin missing key design details like the horn of the buffalo because of human or mechanical production flaws can never be gem in my opinion. As a result, the abraided coins have to be viewed relative to examples of that date and mint, and perhaps even the series, that were produced flawlessly and on down the grading scale.