1914 S St. Gaudens Double Eagle, Opinion With Good Photos ?

I'm still holding on to the 63+ I gave it last month.

I am really curious what it would grade for. Even knowing it is not a rare coin. I have a shop here who offer the service of sending it to NGC, but warn me it takes months. Also I wish to compare the more professional photos they make with mine. I can see that the quality of the photo makes much difference when sharing pictures of any coin.




Thank you.
A friend taught me the simple trick of placing something white in the field of the photo. Sensors adjust the white balance automatically then. It works! If not it will be a reference to adjust it in image software.

I took this last photo in the shade because with the sun hitting some details were lost, others exaggerated because of reflections. With sunlight hitting a little sideways from the top, it shines too much. I can show how the Liberty like that.



I must find a middle ground between these photos, with light.

I see traces of wear in the knee and chest but seems minimal. Looking at online images, I think it compares well to this in wear.
https://images.PCGS.com/CoinFacts/3...910_2200.jpg

It is more like this one in wear. But with less big bumps.
https://images.PCGS.com/CoinFacts/3...953_2200.jpg
I like this second less than the first. But it got graded better.

This was the odd thing I noticed, when comparing with photos of the coins online. Some better graded coins look a bit worse to me than some lower graded ones. There is room for luck in the system? Or it changed in the past?

and as far as the grade opinion I have goes, I'm also in line with the some of the others here from AU55 to MS62. Too many marks to quite reach MS63 IMO. A MS63 price point almost doubles the Low end MS61/62 pricing. I think a TPG will take that into consideration also, to reach a MS63 the luster MUST be completely there with no breaks or light wear spots. AU55/58 is only a couple of hundred or less dollars difference than the lower end mint state grades, so somewhere from AU55 through MS62 is likely where it will fall.

I would have liked that. But this is the San Francisco mint coin. I see them sell cheap up to MS64. I now decided to send it for a grade, more from curiosity than from hope of making a difference in value.




So I hold some hope for a nice grade. If grading is not more strict now than in the past. After looking at images online, like those two I put in links. It appears that up to MS64 a little wear is allowed in these coins.
panzaldi, it has traces of wear in the knee and chest zones. Still shinny but with the microscope I see traces there. Those two others in the graded coin photos look like they have some wear too.

I will need to set up a proper macro photography stand to some day photograph my whole collection. With the focus just right even wear traces are visible. But I never got this whole coin in focus when holding the camera in hand. I envy stamp collectors if they can just use scanners

I forgot to tell how this one turned out after sending it for grading? It was classified by NGC as MS62. Congratulations for those who guessed it, and thank you for all opinions.

Sold it as bullion a few months ago to buy a couple of brazilian colonial Moedas that really interested me. Could not miss those and this was the most expendable valuable coin to part with. Retained a nicer looking 1910 Saint Gaudens for this type but have not have it graded.

Unfortunately the buyer hastily broke the holder and put a big scratch on the coin. Bought it as bullion and then really turned into bullion!

Would have preferred to sell it for US collectors but the charges for transportation of precious metal coins across the Atlantic were exorbitant. Still have some very nice Liberty double eagles, 1893, 94, 97, 1904 that I would rather not see suffer the same fate. Perhaps transportation will improve before I have to make another such choice. These high prices of gold are bringing out many interesting coins here and make it hard to justify holding on to repeated types.

Glad we got an update and it got a 62! I was close at 63. I'm ok with that! As far as selling, ya gotta do what cha gotta do!

The grading of these Saints is hard to understand. The Liberty double eagles I can evaluate. The Saints, what to the graders care more about? Wear in the higher surfaces? The torch details? Fields without marks?

This is the Saint I kept, for one the type.



It has a better strike, better fields with few contact marks, better detail in the torch. But worse wear in the high relief points, the knee, breasts, tip of the wing.

Possibly I chose wrongly. But I disliked the weak strike and the scratch under the U in the obverse of the 1914-S.