1924-S LWC

F15

Do you see the lines above the date? Was this coin cleaned? Just curious...im a rookie grader..

Just curious ThadBad, why would you say VF-25 instead of F-15? What exactly would qualify as cheek and jaw separation? Also, I've heard coins around this date, like you said are known for poor strikes. Would you adjust the grade based on the mint doing poor strikes?

As for the mark over the date, unfortunately that is a finger print. All of my coins were picked out of circulation, so it's almost impossible for me to find one without at least 1 little fingerprint mark. Also, it might not even be a fingerprint on the coin, it could be on the glass surface of my scanner, but I suspect it's on the coin.

24 D and 24 S are known for weak strikes and is taken into account in various series when known weak strikes occurred. Believe a VF is spot on.

Grading circulated coins is all about the WEAR. On issues where they were known to way over-use dies, you have to take into careful consideration BOTH sides of the coin in determining the amount of wear.

The cheek is very nice on this coin, on a fine coin it's flat and even with the jaw. With worn dies the jaw is one area that typically suffers and is indistinct. It's easy for a novice to confuse this with wear. With this coin, wheats are very nice for the issue, typically, the right wheat is not fully formed on these due to non-parallel dies, that's the case here. A lot of the grading weight has to be given to the left wheat and there is VF wear on it. The grains are not worn flat and the lines are sharp.

How would you all grade this coin? The 24D/S and 25D/S are well known as some of the poorest cents ever produced by any US Mint. This was due to them depending on the Philly mint to supply the dies....at the same time, they were pressured to produce millions of coins. This is the result, massive quantities of subpar cents.

Very, VERY, interesting points BadThad. Posts like these are why I decided to sign up for this forum and are the reason I will be staying! I've always thought that the grade was dependent on the wear, not the strength of the strike. I've been told otherwise by a few people though, but it doesn't make much sense. Theoretically these coins can come from the mint with the strike of a F or VF coin, would that make them grade F or VF though? My thoughts is they wouldn't be, since that is how they came from the mint and isn't that what Mint State means after all?