1847 -O $10.00 Eagle, Grade Opinions?

I messed with the pics a little on was able to blow them up a little. With the small amount of rub above the ear and on the eagle's leg, it looks to me like EF45-AU50. It's so hard to tell with gold, though, since often what appears to be rub is actually just a trick of the light.

Very pretty coin!

Obverse
Look in detail at the star at the rim at 7 o'clock
It is surrounded by some of the original lustre
This either means mechanical cleaning or overall wear
Also observe the original lustre inside the lettre 8 of 1847
Because of the hair details under the ear not being crisp
I go with overall wear ; no cleaning
whence XF
Since old gold is treated kindly in grading it will go high XF

I agree that the coin may have been cleaned some time in the distant past, but the wear indicators are not there, at least it dont look like it to me, Hair detail looks full coronet does not show any trace of wear at least by the photos, eagles neck and wing tips do not show any wear

Im sure that you are much more familiar with these coins than I am ,so I defer to your opinion !!

Just thought I would give my reasons for why I believe the coin to have MS=60 detail.

Rick

Mike it is a beautifull coin
I understand that graders may give a different grade to both sides of the coins and then give an overall grade
For some or other reason coins are around with a nearly perfect eagle side and a cleaned obverse
I can only think they were mounted in a medaillon without leaving mounting traces or just glued in a book or whatever

Your coin however looks trouble free just passed a few hands

quote:

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Originally posted by Metalman

I think this coin is a product of being stored in a drawer, which was one of the typical methods from the past, the reverse being more protected from the elements and the obverse being wiped at intervals(dusted)

Rick

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Typically those drawers were felt/velour lined and too low so that most coins have slide on the higher parts from the drawers opening and closing ( I see no slide )
Only a 10X maginification can tell about the wiping because to wipe away the mintlustre would leave wiping marks that can be seen under 10 times magnification

quote:

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Originally posted by Metalman

Your right of course!! just seems odd that the obverse would have the Mint lustre broken but the reverse retains Mint lustre without some senario where the reverse was protected ?

Rick

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I have a shieldback young head victoria sovereign that had been glued on a piece of hardboard for collecting
The obverse is XF the reverse after an acetone soak is MS64 like
I guess some kind of medallion settings may not show the typical setting marks and protect the back but most settings would have been cleaned by a jeweller sooner or later
I like your wiping theory though perhaps with the coin sitting in a cutout of a wooden tablet and high enough room above it to avoid
slide

The ones with lustre only inside the lettres are easy