1958 D Franklin Half PCGS Grade Guesses

with overexposed photos it is difficult to tell: if I had to make a guess based ONLY on these photos I would say MS61 -- a really worn die strike, look at the rev. eagle, and lots of nicks on the bell bottom edge. Better photos would help tremendously -- shoot in natural light, do not use the flash, and do not point any light source directly at the slab.

Based on current photo's, I'll say MS62.

Sorry about the poor photos, tough with the holder... here are some better ones < I hope..

Here is the grade.
With all the issues this coin has, how can it be a "MS" grade?
Is it because of the sharpness of the strike, or something else?
I am learning, please excuse my ignorance.

A coin can have a theoretical infinite amount of "issues" and still be considered MS. What makes a coin MS Is not the amount of ticks, dings, scratches, etc it has, but rather the amount lf wear it has. If you look at pictures of AU-58 Morgan dollars, then MS-60 Morgan dollars, the 58's are usually going to look significantly better, but are only geld back because theyve been lightly circulated and have a little bit of wear on the highest points. A deep enough scratch, however, can give an uncirculated coin a "details" grade, but scratches like that are nearly always intentional, not from incidental contact from other coins.

When it comes to determining whether a coin is circulated or uncirculated, yes. The bag marks, ticks, etc. come into account when deciding exactly what number the coin deserves from 60-70. For a circulated coin, the amount of wear is going to be the most important factor in deciding the grade from 1-58.

It was from 30 years ago, I'm guessing the standard has risen since then.

Actually the standards have gotten looser. For example, many coins that graded MS-63, say, 25 years ago, would now grade MS-64. Nonetheless, I think this coin is overgraded. IMO, grade is more like MS-62.

And yes, it can be considered MS as long as there's no wear.