1909-S Lincoln

Hello Inf-Int,
The reverse is a lock for VF-20 according to the PCGS guide. The obverse is a tad weaker with (I think) not quite VF detail in Lincoln's coat or the hair behind the ear. I'd go with F-15 overall, and solid for that grade. Extra-nice hole filler!

I'm assuming the slight "wood grain" texture in the obverse fields is a normal feature caused by the copper alloy or planchet preparation process. I know the 1909-S Indian cents often had a similar appearance. I'd be interested in what other posters have to say about this.

Wow... I think this is a tough one to grade... I'm using the RedBook to help me through this one as on first impression I thought this would be a lock for F-20.

But a couple of things started to bug me.

One is on the reverse at about 7 o'clock. Maybe it's just the image, but from the looks of it I wouldn't consider that a full rim. Even though full rims is a prerequisite for G-4 this coin is obviously not an AG example.

Also, to me the obverse has to grade less than a 20 since I can't see any separation between the cheekbone and jawbone.

So looking at the reverse again and focusing on the wheatlines, are they all visible? This is a toss up. I don't think that they all are. Maybe under magnification they are but I'm specifically looking at wherethe lines on the left hand side of the left stalk should be and there are a couple that I can't see.

For the coin to grade VG-8 half of the lines have to be visible... Well more than half are visible. Maybe a few more than 3/4 to my eye.

So all things said and done... I'm going to end up being the low end odd ball here and grade this as a VG-10. If the rim issue is just the image and under better lighting and magnification I could make out all of the wheatlines I'd call grade this as F-12.

F12-15
im leaning more toward F12 but the reverse is pretty strong and may bump the grade up.