Canada 1905 25c Pick Up Today

Thanks for these added pics. I now can better see the coin and some aspects of what's called a "weak strike".

Still a very rare coin and it will be of great interest to see the final grading on this one.

with Devlec. I've seen rim nicks far worse than that grade MS-63/64 by I.C.C.S. Coin does look nice and has all the appearance of an MS-62/63. The Edwardian series are known for their weak strikes and are one of the most difficult to properly grade.
However, if you look at the outer perimeter of this coin, you see a "jagged" edge. Generally, on circulated coins this is the first part of a coin that wears off because it is THE technical highest point on a coin. This coin still graces the jagged edge and has little to no field marks that I see.
If I were you Julian, send it off to I.C.C.S. and have it Pro graded, it will add a lot of selling power to this piece if my suspicions are right!

Glenn

Glenn

doubleeagle - I'm not offended by you critiquing my grade!

Frankly, I'm just not comfortable with the pictures I've seen of this coin. It's clear to me that the initial pictures were edited significantly, which isn't that big of a deal, but they hid the rim nick, and the blue marks were minimized. As such, I don't trust those pictures at all.

In the recent pictures, you can really see the weakness of the strike. Like Glenn mentioned, this is very common on the Edwardian series, which makes it hard to grade.

I wouldn't say that a rim nick or the blue marks prevent a coin from being UNC on their own. But combining the information I have available (the auctioneer who held it in hand considered it to be EF using British standards (which is the equivalent of AU in Canadian standards), a rim nick and blue spots that one would generally expect to see on a circulated coin), I just suspect that the coin was circulated for a short period of time.

As I said though, I don't see any traces of wear in the pictures, and Glenn raised a good point about the rim (which could still be consistent with a coin that circulated briefly).

It may very well come back 63, and I hope for marbury's sake that it does. Hopefully he gets this in to ICCS, because I would love to see the result.

Is $160 the fee ICCS charges, or is shipping a large part of that?

It's obviously a valuable coin that you probably wouldn't want going through a middleman, but I'm sure many people on here (myself included) would gladly send it in on your behalf to save you money.

I feel it's a beautiful coin Julian and if you paid anything under 3K for it, you've got a steal. Even the latest I.C.C.S. Population Report confirms less than 2 dozen in Mintstate ever graded by 'em.
The $160.00 you spend to have it certified is peanuts for a coin of this caliber. Just consider it an investment, like money in the Bank!

Glenn

I don't know what it is but it is green and can be seen under magnification.

I am too much of a novice to be tinkering with the coin and don't trust NCS with it, so will send to ICCS and let the chips fall.

Marbury nice DNW auction pickup. I have a 1903 that is a virtual twin to your 1905. I bought it off of a dealer friend of mine in an older ICCS holder AU-58. I gave the thing a quick rinse in dissolve after snipping it out and resubbed it ................Surprise it is now an ICCS MS62. Me thinks you have the same type of a coin toss coin. Send it to NGC and they MIGHT 63 it ! Again nice item!!