1859 Indian Head

To the forum

I think your 1859 could be a very nice coin, I do think the problem is the same many of us have. That being it is
hard to get a picture that shows how a coin actually looks in hand.

Between getting the lighting right and having to enlarge the coin for viewing. Also in this case the picture may
come out better if it was not in the airtite holder.

I am not saying this to be negative, I think your coin
is better looking than the photo shows. And it is much better that the one I have in my type set .. But I don't think I could give a fair grade based on the pictures

I would say AU58. It may be MS, however, you can seen come circulation "discoloration" where it appears to have been handled before. The mint luster is evident around the devices, but the fields have some "wear." It may have also been cleaned, but it's hard to tell from the pics. Great coin though.

I think the last pictures have the look of what a copper/nickel Indian Head cent
should have. FYI - Most like to see just the coin, and will ask to crop the photo so
we can see only the coin.

To me the hit on the cheek in front of ear, would hold this coin from getting a
grade of MS65 or higher. That hit and the chatter in the fields on the obverse really draw my attention. But if in hand the coin looks better than pictures I could see it going MS63. If you can see any wear spots on the high points of the coin, then it would drop down into the higher AU grades.

Thanks to everyone for their patience with me as I navigate taking photos. The coin doesn't have any wear on the high points, and I think that the cleaning spots are shadows from the photo and poor lighting. In person the luster is near uniform. I will post using a real camera on macro with better lighting in the near future and I will be sure to crop out the backgrounds. As GR58 pointed out, there are a few hits and light chatter, but it is mainly on the obverse. The reverse is fairly clean (in hand). I will work on my photo skills and get them up. Thanks everyone for making my first thread in the forum a good learning experience!

As promised, I had access to a better camera. It might still wash out some of the color due to the lighting, but I think I have a better cropped image this time. Let me know what you think!

Under magnification I can see that it might have been cleaned on the obverse. I don't see any indication the reverse was cleaned (but maybe a better job was done). I don't really see any wear though. The details of the hair and the cheek on the obverse are still there under magnification as is the wreath on the reverse. I think my camera skills are lacking still and it isn't quite as focused as I would have hoped using the macro setting.

But, please note, I am trying to learn, I am no expert which is why I am here. I need to learn and understand grading so that I can be a better buyer in the future. Thanks for the help. How adversely does cleaning effect this coins value? Should one stay away from all cleaned coins?

I'd say this one is a real nice AU58 .