What's The Requirement For "Full Torch"? (1997-P Dime)

I zoomed in on your photo. Certainly looks like nice strong full upper and lower bands on the torch. PCGS will give you a "FB" for full bands. NGC will give the "FT" for full torch. You know, they like to be different. Four weeks ago I sent in 4 dimes to PCGS seeking FB and wondered if I'm supposed to request they check for FB or do they automatically recognize FB and add that designation if warranted. I'm still waiting to hear back. Are your FB lines 100% from side to side? I know lower bands sometimes are weak on the right side. Wondering if your lower band wasn't 100% side to side.

It looks like the lower bands are not fully struck .

With your lower band being nearly all the way side to side, so close but not enough, I feel the pain. I have many dimes just like in your photo; however, mine are not graded. I was thinking about the idea of having them graded by PCGS to see if I get lucky. If not, send the slab to MACs for a 90%FT label. http://(150623) Not Allowed - Auto Removed/works/ge-gallery/#gallery-43823/4

Yes. MACs. I've seen some posts on here about others being critical of MACs for having a label maker. Obviously not as good as a "FB" from PCGS. But your dime is significantly nicer than other MS67 dimes with zero band across the bottom but yet you don't get the benefit of being significantly nicer. In the end, the real value of the dime is what somebody is willing to pay for it anyways.

I didn't care much for MACs until I read their About Us page. It makes a lot of sense to recognize a coin that is 90% complete versus to a coin that is 0%, especially on value. Maybe I'll wait it out and see if future PCGS incorporates a similar percent grade option.

Trust us. It is done for good reason.

I mentioned 4 dimes I submitted to PCGS several weeks ago, well, my grading just came in yesterday. No FB for me and my dimes were similar to your photo, looked so strong. I was certain I had FB dimes. It is certainly a learning experience for me and just will need to live with the facts. Will now use these dimes to compare against my others. They are to arrive in my mailbox on Saturday. I can't say I'm entirely disappointed as all 4 of my nickels came in as FS.

@solotime, I posted the PCGS grade chart screen capture in another post (link below). I may have bombed on my dimes, but I hit very nice on a nickel...

http://goccf.com/t/320440

Now that I looked at my dimes while they are in the slab, I can see I must have been sniffing too much acetone before selecting those dimes for grading. I'd say my lower bands are 90% of being considered full. One of those slabbed dimes has a PCGS value of $1 so I really bombed on that one. I'm writing it off as a learning curve. I still have approx 10,000 dimes to go through so who knows, I still might find a gem in that batch.