I just saw this post in the sidebar. I missed it earlier because it's in the modern coins thread.
Your coin has slightly mismatched die states, with a LMDS/LDS obverse paired with an MDS reverse. The strike is average for a 1913 Type 2. There is evidence of die clashing in the usual places, with more die polishing on the obverse than reverse. The die mismatch isn't significant, and a major 1913 Type 2 mismatch is the usual identifier for the four (and maybe more) obverse dies that were used on both the Type 1 and Type 2 coins at the transition. That suggests a strike later in the year, after the reverse type transition.
PCGS TrueView photos overemphasize toning, and that sometimes hides what the graders are seeing in hand. I took the True View photo of your coin and adjusted it by reducing the color saturation, and cropped the photo to show only the reverse. Here's the altered-photo reverse of your coin with saturation reduced substantially:
There
appear to have been three surface spots removed: (1) a spot beneath the "EN" of CENTS, (2) a spot between the buffalo's forelegs and rear legs, and (3) a spot on the buffalo's front left leg and shoulder. The first two don't look large or problematic at all. The spot on the foreleg and shoulder, however, looks like it may have been removed a bit aggressively, resulting in a series of small scratches. I did not see any problematic spots removed on the obverse. I can see what PCGS looked at here. I'm not sure it would be called detailed on a bourse floor as a raw coin, but it's not so far off that I think a
TPG would reverse the call.
When it comes to the underlying grade, I respectfully disagree with PCGS. I see evidence of (very) light circulation on this coin, most visible in
light wear on the Indian's upper hair, feather tie, first braid, and cheek and on the buffalo's head, shoulder, and flank. Most importantly, there are also a number of east-west surface scratches on both sides, suggestive of the coin being scraped across a counter or other flat surface. These are not bag marks, and are indicative of
some circulation. IMHO, this coin is an AU-58 slider, a nice one for grade.
I don't think anything was done to this coin recently. There is toning over the scratches, suggestive of album storage. I'd leave it alone, because an AU details is possible on a resubmission. Not all details coins are equal, and yours would not deter buyers the way a details designation for graffiti, scratches, whizzing, or a bent coin would. Overall, it's a decent coin.
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Posted 10/22/2025 2:07 pm
