Fantastic Buff!
LIBERTY is not strike weakness. It is a design issue on 1913-14-15 Buffs.
Your coin has slightly mismatched die wear, a late middle die state obverse paired with an early middle die state reverse. On the obverse die, there are metal flow signs and a common later die state crack from the bottom of the first feather, through the second feather, running to the braid, and another weak early state die crack from the central chin to the rim. The strike is a bit soft, but roughly average for 1914.
The ever-present clash marks exist, with some die polishing to address the clash. The Indian's chin / EPS clash was polished on the obverse, but not the reverse. The second feather / buffalo's head (spiked head) clash was polished on both dies. The Indian's hairline /level ground clash was minimal, and left unpolished. The LIBERTY / right rear leg clash was left untouched on the obverse (probably because of the weak LIBERTY design) and was polished on the reverse.
On the obverse, the fields are intact, but there are light surface contact marks on the devices. There are small, but evident, contact marks on the lower ribbons, braid knot, and forehead, and a series of light abrasions on the high points of the cheek. There is a small corrosion point in the upper hair, to the right of the feather tie. By contact marks alone, the obverse looks to be MS-66, but would have a point deduction for strike and die state. The obverse nets to MS-65.
The reverse is unusually nice for an early buff. There is a minor contact mark above the "I" in FIVE, a small lateral scratch on the buffalo's shoulder, and a minor contact mark below the curl of the tail. There are two small discoloration spots beneath the buffalo's eye and above the beard. I see the reverse as MS-67, with no deductions.
Overall, I think this coin should net to MS-66, with average eye appeal for the grade. What separates your coin from the Heritage Auction MS-67 is die state and resulting strike quality and eye appeal, rather than contact marks.
Fantastic early survivor coin. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Posted 12/05/2019 2:02 pm
