1838 Large Cent

I would agree

Although the hair cords are slightly more visable than the G4 on photograde and "LIBERTY" a bit more defined, the wear around the rims, stars, date and words would net the total grade down regardless of liberty and the hair cords. I have to agree with the first two posts, in that I don't see this one reaching VG, but I could see this one as G6.

Maybe somewhere, somehow this coin experienced some sort of uneven wear. In fact I think the G6 on the photograde app looks slightly better than this one as a whole... and even the hair and liberty are a pretty dead ringer for the G6 posted, moreso than the VG a least. Based on liberty and the hair curls alone sure it could possibly reach VG, but with the heavy wear in the other spots I believe it would be bumped down to the G4/6 area.

I was actually seeing a possible F-12 due to the hair chords and "LIBERTY" but would not place this coin below VG. I don't know about all the other people are talking but there is some uneven wear. I know that the surface looks attractive to me and the eye appeal is probably worth something. I do not consider this a G coin. I was never one to demand perfection an a well circulated coin. The G4 coin I keep seeing has details on the head pretty much all worn accept the LIBERTY is visible. I am not really seeing the uneven wear but do know some older coins get Struck Through Grease or just not struck even. I am going to Google this. I disagree with the G4 grade though. I would call this a VG coin at least. I would also disagree the G6 looks better on the PCGS site, the LIBERTY is blended and the hair chords are not present at all. I really picked it out of the bulk large cent box at a PM dealer I got to. I picked it because of the color. A lot of matron heads I see are dark and ugly and this had a nice brown color.

I am going to have to check out those two stars with my loupe. That area has dark stripes on it. I am wondering though since technology wasn't there in the 1830's to have perfect strike, could areas of the coin be struck weaker causing uneven wear?

I'm going to say G-4. IMO you can't pick out the one or two features about the coin that may look F-12 and ignore the many other features that are at the G-4 level. I studied the photo grade pics and think the G-6 PCGS example is a stronger coin overall than yours, but because of the detail in the beads and hair it may pull a 6 on a generous. The date and a large portion of the lettering is just too weak. "OF AM" on the reverse is virtually gone and 2 stars on the obverse are barely detectable.

Actually those "features" you talk about are the features used to grade a particular coin. They are the high points of the coin. If every older coin got netted down to nothing over a little extra wear somewhere, no older coins would be sent in to be graded and certainly if every coin came back in a "details" slab no coins would be sent in. Generally, older coins are cut more slack from what I hear. Repeating what others say doesn't change anything. This is not a G-4 coin, I would disagree with that. I don't know what would cause a coin to have dis-proportional but do know striking was not exactly perfect back then.

Your right, the points you mentioned are the high points of the coin and generally used to determin the grade. But some coins do not wear in the "normal" areas, the "normal" pattern.. wether it was from some long ago damage, how the coin was carried of stored... or whatever it may be. If wear not normally seen appears in some of the lower areas those will absolutly be taken into account in the grading prosess as well. Wether or not the cords match a VG doesn't matter, because of the other wear on the coin it would net lower overall.

Again, on a well preserved example only the high points of the coin are worn down, and these are used to grade the coin. But there are the exceptions and the coin as a whole has to be taken into account.. If there's wear not normally seen, on some of the lower features its definitely going to net it a lower grade. So if a coin exibits wear not in the normal places, no matter how good the hair cords are its going to downgrade the overall grade.

Just an example because your dates not worn off, but that's like saying a Morgan with the head and hair detail in the EF to AU range but has had some abnormal wear and the date was heavily worn would still grade at that EF/AU level.. No.. It wouldn't happen, it would be downgraded due to the date, even though its not one of the high points. Again, the whole coin must be taken into account when grading, especially if it shows wear in a place there is usually none.

While your coin has better details in the head and hair than the G6 on photograde, the lack of detail to the left of the date on the obverse and "OF" on the reverse would definitely net a lower grade. As I said in my above post the G6 on photograde looks better "overall"... And overall was the key word.. Yours has better detail in the hair cords but due to what happened in the forementioned places it will absolutely grade lower...

Nobody on here is trying to be rude, (at least I'm not) were just trying to explain this as easily as possible. The high points of a coin are not the only thing taken into consideration when grading if the coin shows wear in places uncommon. But your obviously not going to believe anyone on here about the grade or as to the reasoning why but in all honesty there's is no way that if you sent this coin to a TPG it would grade above the G level.

I really wish it would be worth it to send it to ANACS even just so you could understand what were explaining better, but it wouldn't justify the cost. It's got good color and is still a very nice example of a large cent, but due to whats been explained it would net a lower grade than the hair cords alone would warrant. Sorry, again I'm not trying to be rude or argue, just trying to explain the reasoning...