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Posted 10/24/2005 9:36 pm
MS-63/64
There's a small bump in the reverse rim between the D of UNITED and the S of STATES. That's this coin's only serious problem, but I think it's serious enough to keep it at 64 or below a notch. Washington coins are fairly undistinguished and are hard to grade in the mint states because the coin is designed so that the rims are higher or as high as the highest points, which would be GW's jowl and along the line of the cheek, and on the curl behind/above the ear, on the reverse and the breast feathers on the reverse. Here, the coin looks mark free with friction on the jowl and cheek and possibly some roll marks in the fields.
The biggest criteria with this design is the strength of the strike. Strike quality can be determined fairly easily on the obverse by the hair-line, the sharper the better, and the neck area below the jaw and chin (there should be a discernable triangle of shade defining the connection between the neck muscles and GW's fairly sharp jaw. Also on the obverse the curl around the ear should be somewhat detailed. On the reverse, strike quality is evident in the relative sharpness of breast feathers and especially by the strength of the eagle's tail feathers behind and beneath whatever that is that the eagle is gripping. This coin has a moderate to weak strike by those standards, at least in the picture. The devices look mark free and the fields too, which in mint state conditions is pretty much universal. It looks shiny. Pretty coin. Sorry for the length of this essay.
There's a small bump in the reverse rim between the D of UNITED and the S of STATES. That's this coin's only serious problem, but I think it's serious enough to keep it at 64 or below a notch. Washington coins are fairly undistinguished and are hard to grade in the mint states because the coin is designed so that the rims are higher or as high as the highest points, which would be GW's jowl and along the line of the cheek, and on the curl behind/above the ear, on the reverse and the breast feathers on the reverse. Here, the coin looks mark free with friction on the jowl and cheek and possibly some roll marks in the fields.
The biggest criteria with this design is the strength of the strike. Strike quality can be determined fairly easily on the obverse by the hair-line, the sharper the better, and the neck area below the jaw and chin (there should be a discernable triangle of shade defining the connection between the neck muscles and GW's fairly sharp jaw. Also on the obverse the curl around the ear should be somewhat detailed. On the reverse, strike quality is evident in the relative sharpness of breast feathers and especially by the strength of the eagle's tail feathers behind and beneath whatever that is that the eagle is gripping. This coin has a moderate to weak strike by those standards, at least in the picture. The devices look mark free and the fields too, which in mint state conditions is pretty much universal. It looks shiny. Pretty coin. Sorry for the length of this essay.
