The more wear a coin receives the more it is apt to acquire
other evidences of contact, such as nicks, edge bumps, and scratches. Such
additional defects, if serious or especially prominent in nature, should always
be mentioned in a coin's description. There are different schools of thought
about this. Some feel that a coin should be described, for example, as
"EF-40, but with several edge bumps." Such a coin may be worth, say, a
VF-20 price. Some feel that it is just as expedient to simply describe the coin
as VF-20 and say nothing else, for this equates to the market price level.
Coins which have been polished, soldered, holed and
repaired, used as jewelry, re-engraved or burnished, or which have other
problems should always be specifically described as such, no matter what their
grade level.
Sharpness or Weakness of Strike
The sharpness or lightness of strike can affect a coin's
value and, in recent times (for views have changed on this), a coin's grade.
Consider as an example the 1941-S Liberty Walking half dollar. Nearly all known
specimens, probably 95% or more, have the details on the skirt of Miss Liberty
and on the central part of her figure weakly defined. Had you or I been present
at the San Francisco Mint in 1941, and at the moment of striking had we taken
with a gloved hand a typical 1941-S half dollar from the dies, it would have
exhibited a flatness not unlike that observed on a coin which had spent several
years in circulation. And yet the coin would have received no nicks, scratches,
abrasions, or handling marks, for the newly minted specimen had yet to come into
contact with anything else except a gloved hand. From a technical viewpoint, I
suggest that a proper numismatic description of this coin, if offered in an
auction catalogue, should be something like this:
"1941-S Liberty Walking half dollar. MS-70 from the
standpoint of handling and contact marks; there is absolutely no evidence of
such. However, in keeping with nearly all other known specimens of the variety,
the details of Miss Liberty are lightly defined on the higher areas, giving the
coin a flat appearance at the center. This coin is worth an MS-63 price."
However, this view would not be at all in step with
prevailing numismatic philosophy. Instead, the piece would be downgraded to,
say, MS-63 to reflect its market level, with nothing said about the weakness of
strike.
