1855 Slanted 55 Braided Hair Cent And A Story To Tell - You Vs PCGS

Agree with AU-55, not a fan to be honest.

AU53. The hit on the cheek and left of the date + the rim issues would be a no-go for me, but the rest of the coin is decent.

Curious about what's happening at S12 obverse - is that just a smudge on the holder?

I'll say AU.

AU53. looks like knob on ear variety

The "knob ear" is fairly common (R1) and not usually attributed unless the submitter requests variety attribution. Since this is an EDS coin, the seller may not have noticed; or may have but did not want to spend the extra $15 or whatever it is now per coin for variety check.

PCGS slabs these as "Knob On Ear" on the holder.

The variety is interesting and makes for a good starting point for learning about the progression of die states, but it only adds a very modest premium to the value of the coin - the condition of the coin itself is a much stronger determinant of its value.

AU50

The premium tends to favor MDS and later die states where the "knob" is more prominent. (I suppose "modest" is relative, yes?)

Regardless, it's a nice bit of copper and a good cherrypick. It would be worth a reslab with variety attribution, if you so desire, and you'd probably come out ahead on the deal.

I don't put much weight into price guides and prefer to look at auction data. It's more reliable and a much better "finger on the pulse" of the market provided that a given coin is sufficiently popular as to be frequently seen at auction. A large part of my rationale is that a grade (e.g. AU53) can cover a wide spectrum of coins, from the ugliest of the ugly to the best of the best, so looking at images of actual examples that have sold is more valuable to me than a strict numeric TPG grade.