You Vs. PCGS: 1887 Indian Cent

The 1871 is considered scarce in high grades, but my point is, whatever the date, this AU-55 grade is just dead wrong by any standard - no diamonds, no luster, no nothing. I only bring it up as an indication of lax PCGS standards and what the grade might be on the 1887 subject coin. No intent to hijack the thread.

XF-45

The pic is difficult to tell what the fields look like but I'll post my first thought/grade Proof-64.

Now that the grade reveal has happened, I can extend the hijack.

Study the "look" of those images very carefully. That coin was photographed using fluorescent lighting, with the camera's White Balance improperly set (probably not capable of correcting for fluorescent). The color is skewed heavily towards the blue, and another artifact of such a broad fluorescent light source is the obscuration of detail. Under that technical regimen, no accurate opinion of the coin's true condition can be drawn; indeed, the only assumption on the viewer's part is that they're being deceived as to the true look of the coin.

Doesn't mean that the coin deserves the grade, just that the images aren't capable of proving it one way or the other.