Opinions On Eye Appeal (Example: 1927-D Mercury Dime)

Thanks for these thoughts panzaldi, very helpful.

I agree these components are all essential to accurate grading: strike, luster, surface originality; however (at least per the PCGS article I linked above), eye appeal is secondary to grade. However, any astute numismatist would be wise to incorporate eye appeal into their grading criteria as you've suggested.

Now, I want to ask about the 'black crud'. I guess I'm surprised that you feel this influences eye appeal, because it seems limited to the rim only. Are we looking at the same coin here? I don't see any black crud "across both sides", just on the reverse rim.

I think AU53 is a fair assessment, but comparing against a number of AU coins on Heritage, this should be a solid 55 if not 58.

It is still currently available, and I may pick this one up depending on what else is or isn't available in the near-term.