1913 Quarter Eagle For Grading

If this one has seen circulation, it's darn little. The top of the eagle's shoulder and the outside of the feather - those are where the wear starts. This one's showing detail in both places, and gold wears fast because it's so soft. The fields look pretty skritchy, so I'm calling it AU55 when AU58 might be the right technical grade.

For the record, supgog, the usual methods of cleaning and telltales we see for cleaning on silver/copper would wreck an equivalent gold piece, especially one of these, fields and devices.

The field texture of these quarter eagles often seems to look skritchy or odd to me, from remembering various other pictures posted here and elsewhere. In some cases almost like the scritchiness is on the die, an unusual texture. Then again, maybe I've been looking at counterfeits

Might be a teensy bit of wear at the top of the shoulder, hard to tell. Not the greatest strike.

Looks better in hand of course. Especially since my near vision is not quite what it used to be

These photos are brutally honest and don't flatter it at all, but they do show the detail. I have other photos of this coin which have more reflections, different lighting, etc-- interesting how it looks like a much better coin with subtle photo differences or slightly off focus. Seeing that in action first hand as I've photographed more and more coins gives me pause when looking at coins online ( ebay photos and such). It is certainly possible to take what looks like a 'good' picture but have it not accurately portray the coin.

Been playing around with my photo setup. Made a poor man's version of a Cloud Dome, these pics were the test drive. Used a big/deep translucent white storage bin with rounded corners, turned it upside down, cut a hole for the camera lens, plopped the camera on top. Turned out very effective for diffusing the camera flash and room lights. Added a swatch of off-white satin on top where the flash is and that made the lighting just about right. Now if I can get Live View working with the laptop, it will be even easier.

Thanks for the opinions. This is one of only 3 gold coins given to me over the years from my Grandad's collection... I'm keeping it, just wanted grade opinions for my records :)

Just don't rely on the old eyes to grade then! I too have to go to the eye Dr. twice a year now, changing vision stinks when getting older.