1908 $2.5 Gold Indian - You Vs. PCGS

Not schooled on this series, but there certainly appears to be wear at the top of the eagle's leading wing and the Indian's cheek bone. Or are these striking issues on this early date?

The long scratch on the reverse may be an issue but still a nice specimen. MS63?

I'm at MS63+ on this one, a bit weaker strike than the 1911 you posted, still a lustrous coin.




Since these are incuse struck coins those are actually the lowest parts of the coin, more likely a weaker strike caused them, the high points are the flat fields which makes for a tough type/style of coin to grade from single photos, they can change appearance quite easily depending on how the lighting is positioned when photographing them.

Basically these are exactly the opposite of any other coin we try to grade, which certainly cause a bit of a challenge for many, myself included.

Understand the incuse minting process. Seems clear you can't grade these by the standards of later dates. Learned a lot here and anxious to learn of the final grade.

Frog you are not alone! This is a tough one. In person I think both are solid 64. These fool many people due to the weakness on the shoulder and wing of reverse. Actually what you see on the wing isn't weakness. Its just how the dies were sculpted. This coin still is probably LDS based on the other weakness thats been mentioned, as well as the die clashes.