1845 Seated Half

I'd say at least F, into VF, like 22?
What do the rest of you think?

I'm going to say 20, with some help from the reverse. Nice eye appeal. I love old circulated halves.

OK, I'm confused here.

EF40 Extremely Fine = LIBERTY entirely sharp. Scroll edges and clasp distinct.

With portions of LIBERTY partially worn, I don't call that sharp. Showed pics to 3 non-coin people and none could even see the clasp (tough on Seated halves, I know, but if it's distinct, they should see it as they did with later AU pics I showed). So what am I missing? Little help please.

At least I seem to be consistent in under grading. If XF is right, no wonder I think every body's prices are too high.

Nice pick up Nod!!

Where are you going to keep your collection when you go into the Air Force?
(I could "watch it" for you...)

Here's how I see it, OneBowl,

LIBERTY is more a general guideline than a 'necessity' as is the same with barbers (in that most coins will match up, but not all). Some Seated halves will have a weaker LIBERTY than the rest of the coin which will bump the grade down but not 'completely limit' it to the lowest possible grade. Generally TPG's adopt this principle as well....a weak LIBERTY like this on what looks (otherwise) to be a nice XF+ might net the grade down to XF-40 or maybe VF-35. An even weaker LIBERTY would net it down to VF-25 or 30 when the 'technical' grade might only be F-12 (but it is usually not that extreme).

I also guess I thought that the coin probably looks sharper in hand; the contrast is low in this photo.

I agree with Fenton at VF35. I wouldn't be surprised to see it in a VF30 holder with conservative grading though; nor would XF40 be out of the question if you're a touch liberal. And yes, the conditional status of "LIBERTY" is a general guideline only.

Thanks for the grading lesson everybody, especially SC. Those types of comments are EXACTLY what I need to improve my skill set. Rather than just knowing I was wrong, I now know why. I at least glance at most of the grading posts here, so for anyone who reads this, if you ever feel like adding a few sentences to your grading replies explaining your grading and what keeps it from being higher or lower, those comments will certainly be appreciated by me and probably others as well.

A long, long time ago, at least in my area, dealers would pull out the Red Book for grading and if the book said LIBERTY had to be sharp and say the bottom of the "T" was faint while the remainder was razor sharp, it didn't make the grade. At least they graded what they sold this way too. Thanks again!