1851 Half Cent - You Vs. Old ANACS

As I mentioned when posting this thread long ago, I was very interested to see whether the reputation old ANACS has for conservative grading was warranted.

For this 1851 Half Cent, NGC agrees with old ANACS that it grades an AU58. Given the slight wear, the coin has to be on the AU scale, and it is nice to see that both services confirm that it's at the top of that scale. So at the very least, it appears that ANACS did not overgrade.

I was thinking AU55 but have 0 knowledge of the set for whatever that's worth.

Thanks, everyone.

I agree with Bryan1315. AU58 is my favorite grade, especially for 19th century coins. In one of his grading videos, Rick Snow points out that AU58 is essentially AU55 with "something special," while MS60/61 is MS63 with a problem.

That really clicked for me. Plus, I love the sense of history of a circulated coin. So in my Half Cent collection, I aim for the highest circulated grade I can afford, with (obviously) a preference for AU58.

Interestingly, this is giving me a bit of a problem right now. (Well, it's a good kind of problem.) As you might have seen on another grading thread, I sent in an 1855 Half Cent, formerly graded AU58, and it came back MS62! Now it doesn't fit in my collection!